By Ameenu Shardow, follow on Twitter @alooameenu
USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann is adamant his side are not underdogs haven been drawn a tough group for next year’s World Cup alongside Germany, Portugal and Ghana.
The Yanks will kick off their campaign in Brazil against their recent executioners Ghana before facing the Christiano Ronaldo led Portugal and then the ever efficient Germany.
Many pundits have already written off the USA – especially with their inferior record against two of the teams – Germany and Ghana - in Group G at the World Cup stage.
USA have sufferd two back-to-back defeats against the Black Stars in the last two World Cups.
First, a group defeat in 2006 which prevented the side from progressing and then a memorable extra time loss to the Black Stars at the Round of 16 stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Despite this porous record against their group opponents, the German coach of the USA is adamant his side will not be lying low as the proverbial underdogs.
“We’re not underdogs,†Klinsmann declared defiantly.
“I’m not worried at all. I’ll just take it the way it is. ... We’ll build up confidence and believe that we can get good results to get into the next round. ... We’re excited about this, big time.
“That’s where you want to be in a World Cup. It’s a difficult draw but we’ll find a way to go through it.â€