Beyond South Sudan’s second chance at springing an international upset for the ages, this matchup has important implications for Group C.
For starters, the winner of this game is almost certainly through to the quarterfinals. If either team wins in a blowout, they’d be on course to clinch one of the top two seeds and thus avoid the third group winner.
If South Sudan somehow pulls off the upset, it would become the first African nation to qualify for the knockout rounds of an Olympic tournament.
However, the loser of this game remains in decent shape to advance, either as the group runner-up or one of the two third-place teams. South Sudan’s road would be more challenging, as it must face Serbia, the other traditional power in this group, in Saturday’s group stage finale. Team USA, meanwhile, faces Puerto Rico, the weakest team in the group, in its finale Saturday.
The likeliest scenario is that Serbia and the U.S. win today, setting up a scenario where Serbia vs. South Sudan becomes something of an elimination game to determine second place in the group. But stranger things have happened.
In any event, it benefits South Sudan to keep this game vs. Team USA relatively close even if it cannot pull off the upset, as point differential could come into play in various tiebreaker scenarios.
