The U.S. Men’s National Team lost their round of 16 match to Ghana 2-1 in extra time at Rustenburg on Saturday night. The loss ends the Americans’ World Cup and leads to the inevitable second-guessing of coaching and substitution decisions on behalf of Bob Bradley. More on that in a bit.

The game started horribly for the Yanks, who found themselves down a goal after just five minutes when Prince Boateng capitalized on a Ricardo Clark error and was not challenged by either U.S. central defender. Boateng’s strike to the near post beat Tim Howard, who perhaps should have done a better job covering his near side.

Starting Clark was the first of several mysterious decisions by Bradley. The second was his move to remove Clark from the game after just 30 minutes.

In fairness, the U.S. did recover after that. And Clark had picked up a yellow card as well. But the move constitutes an admission that starting Clark had been a mistake. Which, of course it was, though why Bradley felt he needed to rectify it then and there is a different question. It was as if Bradley was trying to compensate for over-coaching by over-coaching.

As they had against England and Slovenia, they were able to turn the game around after the early deficit. By the final third of the first half, the Americans were seeing more of the ball and taking the game to their opponents. The tying goal, off a penalty on 62 minutes was the just rewards for their efforts.

At that point in the match the U.S. clearly had the upper hand against a Ghanaian side that appeared out of ideas and out of energy. Perhaps sensing this, the Yanks went for the kill. But despite good looks by Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, among others, the U.S. were unable to put the ball past an excellent Richard Kingston.

The momentum shifted again after Ghana head coach Milovan Rajevac brought Stephen Appiah for Boateng in the 78th minute. Appiah seemed to breathe new life into the African side, who were able to take back the upper hand as the game went to extra time.

Still, the winning goal on 93 minutes never should have happened had Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit been playing attention. Asamoah Gyan split the two central defenders and put the ball nearly out of Tim Howard’s reach. 2-1 Ghana.

The U.S. did everything they could to find another equalizer, but were clearly handicapped without Jozy Altidore, who Bradley decided to remove for Herculez Gomez at the end of regulation. Another curious decision by the Princeton man. Though Altidore was clearly spent and had done little the entire match it is hard to see how Gomez could have brought anything different–especially after his lackluster effort against Algeria. Sure enough, Gomez contributed virtually nothing to the U.S. efforts.

Landon Donovan’s goal makes him the U.S. all-time leading scorer at the FIFA World Cup with five goals. Donovan is the first U.S. player to score in three straight FIFA World Cup games. He will likely have a chance to make it four straight in Brazil in 2014.

In all likelihood Donovan and the U.S. nats will have another coach by then. Or what do you think should happen?

Match Facts

United States vs. Ghana, 2010 FIFA World Cup round of 16
Date: June 26, 2010
Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium – Rustenburg, South Africa
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. local time
Attendance: 34,976
Weather: 57 degrees Fahrenheit and clear

Scoring Summary:
GHA – Kevin Prince Boateng 5th minute
USA – Landon Donovan (penalty) 62
GHA – Asamoah Gyan (Andre Ayew) 93

Lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 2-Steve Cherundolo, 15-Jay DeMerit, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 10-Landon Donovan, 4-Michael Bradley, 13 -Ricardo Clark (19-Maurice Edu, 31), 8-Clint Dempsey; 20-Robbie Findley (22-Benny Feilhaber, 46) 17-Jozy Altidore (9-Herculez Gomez, 91)
Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan, 23-Marcus Hahnemann; 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 6-Jonathan Spector, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 11-Stuart Holden, 14-Edson Buddle, 16-José Torres, 21-Clarence Goodson
Head Coach: Bob Bradley

GHA: 22-Richard Kingson; 2-Hans Sarpei (19-Lee Addy, 73) , 4-John Pantsil, 5-John Mensah (capt.), 7-Samuel Inkoom (11-Sulley Muntari, 113), 8-Jonathan Mensah; 6-Anthony Annan, 13-Andre Ayew, 21-Kwando Asamoah, 23-Kevin Prince Boateng (10-Stephen Appiah, 78); 3-Asamoah Gyan
Subs not used: 1-Daniel Agyei, 16-Stephen Ahorlu; 9-Derek Boateng, 12-Prince Tago, 14-Matthew Amoah, 17-Ibrahim Ayew, 18-Dominic Adiyiah, 20-Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
Subs not available: 15- Isaac Vorsah
Head Coach: Milovan Rajevac

Stats Summary:
USA / GHA
Shots: 20 / 16
Shots on Goal: 6 / 6
Saves: 4 / 5
Corner Kicks: 5 / 4
Fouls: 11 / 18
Offside: 1/ 4

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Ricardo Clark (caution) 7th minute
USA – Steve Cherundolo (caution) 18
GHA – Jonathan Mensah (caution) 61
USA – Carlos Bocanegra (caution) 68
GHA – Andre Ayew (caution) 90+2

Officials:
Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Gabor Eros (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Tibor Vamos (HUN)
Fourth Official: Michael Hester (NZL)