United States match-winner John Brooks’ World Cup debut could not have gone any better.
Brooks was applauded back into the dressing room by team-mates after his late goal secured a 2-1 win over Ghana in Group G in Natal.
The 21-year-old, making only his fifth senior appearance and first in a competitive match, emerged from the tunnel at the start of the second half to replace the injured Matt Besler as a relative unknown but returned a national hero as his Wikipedia page was edited to claim he was, “the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln.”
“I couldn’t imagine a better first goal for the team, and the fact it won us the game makes it even better. It’s simply wonderful,” he said.
“That (being applauded in the dressing room) was a really emotional moment. I wasn’t expecting it and it shows the great atmosphere we’ve got in this squad. All I can do is be very thankful to them.”
Brooks also revealed after the match he had dreamed he would score the winner, although he was six minutes out with the prediction.
“Yeah, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I said I had a dream, I told some team-mates that I dreamt that I had scored in the 80th minute and we won the game. Now it turned out to be the 86th minute and we won the game, so that was good.”
With the extent of Besler’s injury yet to be determined there is a chance Brooks might not only start against Portugal on Sunday but could also face Germany, the country of his birth.
Brooks, the son of an American serviceman from Chicago and his German wife, was brought up in the capital and currently plays for Hertha Berlin.
Of the prospect of facing Germany, he said: “It’s still a long way off. First of all we need to keep preparing, stay focused on Portugal and then we’ll see.”
Forward Clint Dempsey scored the USA’s opener after just 30 seconds and went on to put in a manof- the-match performance despite sustaining a broken nose after being kicked in the face by Ghana’s John Boye.
“I think my nose is broken. I didn’t consider coming off, I just wanted to go on for as long as I could, but I had trouble breathing,” he said. “I was coughing up blood a little bit from the back of my throat but I felt fine and that I could keep going.
“I did feel a little bit tired towards the end but hopefully I’ll be able to start breathing through my nose again before the next game.”
Ghana have the task of facing Germany next and captain Asamoah Gyan knows after their 4-0 demolition of fellow European heavyweights Portugal, it will be a tough prospect.
“Germany won by four goals so their confidence is high, we have lost and want to come back strongly. We have to stay focused,” the Al Ain striker said. “The confidence is still there even though we have lost. We still have the quality. We don’t have to give up for no reason at all.”
