U.S. Men’s National Team: March 2015 Friendlies Preview

The national team plays two away friendlies this month, in Denmark and Switzerland. The current team will be without Clint Dempsey, who pulled a hamstring in training on Monday and was sent back to Seattle. Dempsey, who will not be replaced on the current U.S. squad, was one of eight players who were also called in for Klinsmann’s experimental January-camp roster. Some of those players—like Dempsey himself, Michael Bradley, and Jozy Altidore—are mainstays, while others—like Miguel Ibarra and Gyasi Zardes—have just a handful of games played with the senior national team.

The rest of the current roster also has something of an experimental, or anyway unfamiliar, quality.  Midfielder Danny Williams and defender Tim Ream are back in the picture after long national-team layoffs, and five out of the twenty-two players are looking for their first caps, including two dual Mexican-American citizens—goalkeeper William Yarbrough and defender Ventura Alvarado. And speaking of experimental: In a fit of prescience, in my last post I predicted that Brek Shea might be moved to left back on the USMNT, and he did play that position against Panama in the second January friendly, and is listed as a defender on this month's roster. The guess wasn’t a stretch, given the dearth of fullbacks on that January roster, but I did find it odd how few commentators discussed the possibility, at least those that I read and listened to in the days before the games.

Anyway, Shea is now playing left back for his club team down in Orlando as well as for the national team. Given his size and speed, I like the move and hope he settles into that important position. Whether or not he does, it will be difficult for any U.S. player to succeed DaMarcus Beasley in the role. Klinsmann has in my opinion made some poor decisions in his time as USMNT coach, but moving Beasley to left back for the 2014 World Cup cycle was a stroke of genius. And if Beasley continues to perform like he did for Houston last week against the LA Galaxy, we might be begging him to come out of national-team retirement come 2018.

Here’s what you need to know about today’s game, and the game next week.

U.S. vs. Denmark

Time: Wednesday, March 25, 3 p.m. ET

Place: NRGi Park, Aarhus, Denmark

TV Broadcasts: ESPN2, WatchESPN, UniMás and univisiondeportes.com

Current Denmark FIFA ranking: 28 (The U.S.’s current ranking is 32)

Player to watch: Christian Eriksen. Eriksen has twice been named the Danish football player of the year. In his first season with Tottenham Hotspur (2013-2014), he won that club’s player of the year award.

U.S. vs. Switzerland

Time: Tuesday, March 31, 12 p.m. ET

Place: Stadion Letzigrund; Zurich, Switzerland

TV Broadcasts: FOX Sports 1, UniMás, and UDN.

Current Switzerland FIFA ranking: 12

Player to watch: Xherdan Shaqiri. The 23-year-old plays his club soccer for Inter Milan, after having declined offers from multiple clubs in the English premier league. He scored a hat trick against Honduras in the 2014 World Cup.

U.S. Men’s National Team: 2015 January-Camp Friendlies Preview

The national team is hardly at the top of most U.S. sports fans’ minds these days, given that the next World Cup is three years off and MLS is in its offseason (not to mention the fact that the Super Bowl is this Sunday). But January is traditionally an important month for national teams, a time when coaches call up uncapped players to see how they perform with and against veterans. And the U.S. happens to have two intriguing games coming up against quality opponents, Chile on Wednesday and Panama on February 8.

To put those games in context, now is a good time to look back at how the U.S. has played since Landon Donovan’s U.S. send-off game against Ecuador, and to take a look at the current U.S. roster.

Recap of Last Three USMNT Games

The U.S. is 0-2-1 in the post-Donovan era, and that record actually flatters the Yanks. To begin at the beginning: The U.S. played Honduras to a 1-1 draw in Boca Raton, Florida on October 14, four days after the Ecuador game. Despite the score line, Honduras largely outplayed and outhustled the U.S., and certainly were the better side in the second half. The only thing that kept Los Catrachos from winning was their poor finishing.

The game was notable from a U.S. perspective for at least one reason. World Cup standout midfielder Jermaine Jones played center back for the first time in a U.S. jersey. Jones will be 36 when the 2018 World Cup comes around, and coach Jurgen Klinsmann already envisions moving one of his favorite U.S. players to the back line. Klinsmann recently said, “if I have all the options in midfield, then I'm probably going to see [Jones] more as a center back.” The results from Jones against Honduras were at best mixed. He had a number of giveaways and other clumsy moments, including getting faked to the ground in the 56^th minute and getting a needless yellow card four minutes later. He was also partly to blame for Honduras’s set-piece equalizer in the 86^th minute.

Exactly one month after that game, the Yanks traveled to London to play Colombia at Craven Cottage, Fulham F.C.’s home ground. Colombia fans made the Cottage look and sound like a stadium in Bogota. And while it would be exaggerating to say that the U.S. played the part of the Washington Generals to Colombia’s Globetrotters, they were clearly outclassed and lost 2-1. As in the Honduras game, the U.S. looked particularly overmatched in the second half, and Colombia’s winner in the 87^th minute (a good one, by the way) was surprising only in that it came so late.

There were a couple of bright spots for the U.S. Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya had an outstanding game, which no doubt pleased his father, who played professionally in Colombia. Bedoya had a forgettable 2014 World Cup, but he was solid in 2014 qualifying and is now one of the few U.S. national team regulars still playing his club soccer in Europe. He’s not only a technically gifted player with good vision, he’s extremely hard-working and effective on defense.

Speaking of which: All of those attributes apply to the great Lee Nguyen, who now that Donovan has stepped down from the national team is my own personal favorite U.S. player. After a seven-year hiatus, Nguyen has worked his way back into the national team picture, and he played about a dozen minutes against Colombia. Even though the U.S. was on their heels late, Nguyen did not disappoint during his brief opportunity. Against Colombia, he played with the confidence and flair that made him one of the most exciting and effective players in MLS last season. Almost immediately after coming on, he executed a nifty back-heel pass to create a chance for the U.S. Thank heaven he’s on the January roster, and here’s to hoping he sees many more minutes against both Chile and Panama than he did against Colombia.

Four days after that U.S. loss, the team traveled to Dublin to play what the ESPN announcers billed as a B- or even C-team for Ireland. Apparently no one told Ireland’s players about their supposed mediocrity. They ran the Yanks off the field and won 4-1. The U.S. played with five new starters, including Alfredo Morales, who plays in the second tier of German soccer and got his first U.S. start. (Morales is not on the roster for the Chile and Panama games.) In truth, the U.S. played a good first half, but—continuing a disturbing trend set in the Honduras and Colombia games—they broke down in the second half. Bedoya again had a good game, but his fellow midfield mates looked a mess, including especially the normally reliable Kyle Beckerman, who committed a number of turnovers.

It’s also worth mentioning in closing that Fabian Johnson—who looked so strong in run-up to the 2014 World Cup—started against Colombia and against Ireland and did not play well in either game. Looking over my notes, I see that Johnson had a bad giveaway at midfield in the 33^rd minute against Colombia, which led to quick counter attack and shot off the post by Carlos Bacca. Up to that point, I had literally forgotten Johnson was in the game. He fared little better against Ireland, despite hitting the post himself in the 22^nd minute. His 55^th-minute giveaway in the U.S. right defensive corner, after he needlessly dwelled on the ball, led to Ireland’s go-ahead goal.

Roster for Chile and Panama Friendlies

Klinsmann recently indicated that he called up an unusually high percentage of young, uncapped players to prepare them for the task of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. (Fans may recall that qualification is no easy task; the U.S. U-23s failed to make the 2012 Olympics.) And as usual, Klinsmann expressed a desire to play well against the U.S.’s next opponents, saying earlier this month: “We definitely want to have a competitive group together that plays two friendly games against Chile and then in L.A. against Panama.”

It’s debatable that he has assembled a “competitive group” to take on Chile and Panama. The 23-man roster is available on the U.S. Soccer website, and many of the newcomers Klinsmann alluded to are not exactly household names. How many USMNT fans have heard of, for example, Jon Kempin, Steve Birnbaum, and Dillon Serna? Curiously, the current roster also includes little-known Miguel Ibarra, who plays for the NASL’s Minnesota United, and who came on in the 90^th minute against Honduras to earn his first cap. Ibarra appears to be a pet project of Klinsmann’s, who can’t justify Ibarra’s inclusion on Olympic-qualification grounds, as Ibarra is 24 years old and therefore ineligible to play in those U-23 games.

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the current roster is Klinsmann’s choice of defenders. There are seven listed but (unless I’m missing something) only one fullback—DeAndre Yedlin. The rest either play center back or, in the cases of Jermaine Jones and Perry Kitchen, are natural holding midfielders. Who will play left back? My hunch is that Klinsmann will play Brek Shea (listed naturally enough as a midfielder) at left fullback, similar to how he moved DaMarcus Beasley to that position.

That will be something to watch for, as will the performances of promising young MLS players like Gyasi Zardes, Wil Trapp, and Luis Gil. And more casual fans (along with the rest of us) can look forward to watching Jones and fellow USMNT veterans Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Mix Diskerud. No Bedoya, though.

The Chile game is Wednesday, January 28, 6 p.m. ET, on Fox Sports 1, Unimas, and UDN. The Panama game is Sunday, February 8, 4 p.m. ET, on ESPN, Unimas, and UDN.

Wine and Soccer

Last weekend I took a bus from Boston to New York to stay with a friend in Brooklyn. He’d invited me down to watch the New England Revolution play the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference championship series against New York in Red Bull Arena. My friend’s been a fan of Thierry Henry since Henry’s first days at Arsenal, and he wanted to see the French striker’s last game in New York, maybe one of his last games ever.

Shortly after I arrived on Saturday night, and with zero fanfare, my friend opened a bottle of 1963 Dow port and poured glasses for us and his wife. How he came to have a bottle of 1963 Dow sitting on his kitchen counter is not to be gone into here, but something should be said of the wine itself. The great British critic Jancis Robinson has described the 1963 Dow as “majestic,” and that it is “one of the top four or five vintage ports of the 20th century by anyone's reckoning.” The particular bottle I tasted last Saturday was one of the best wines I’ve ever had, despite its having been stored indifferently on multiple kitchen counters for more than a decade (after, it’s true, three decades of impeccable storage in a London cellar).

Since there can’t be many bottles of 1963 Dow left, it may (just) be worth recording some of my own impressions, which I jotted down on a scrap of paper: “Translucent maroon, you can see through it, like tea. Green apple, pepper, caramel, licorice, asphalt. Not necessarily complex, but perfectly balanced, without a hint of that nasty, vegetal mintiness of table wines that are past their primes.” When I asked my friend for his impressions, he (most would say rightly) winced and said, “I don’t do that.”

My urge to treat the wine as something beyond a mere beverage—to comment on and discuss it—and my friend’s equally strong desire to shun such pretentions and keep his thoughts to himself can be seen as emblematic of how Americans react to wine. Even though wine is enormously popular in the U.S., it has never fully shed its reputation as the drink of snobby, rich aesthetes. The following passage from Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast illustrates how the author could only drink wine naturally in Europe, or anyway outside the U.S., where Americans fetishize the stuff:  “In Europe then we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal . . . Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.”

I thought of some of this last weekend when I drank vintage port and, later, watched the game. I also thought (not for the first time) about the similarities between wine and soccer. Most obviously, fans of each tend to intellectualize their passions, to talk about them in stilted language, though there is nothing inherently intellectual about wine or soccer. Wine critics talk of a wine’s “finesse,” its “lingering finish” and “exquisite balance,” its “masculinity” (or “femininity”) and “nobility.” In short, they use terms and concepts that are typically not applied to other foods or drinks, even beer and spirits. Soccer commentators employ similarly nerdy terms that would sound laughable if they were used to describe almost any other physical activity outside the performing arts. They talk of a player’s “quality” and “current rich vein of form,” of “naive” defensive plays and “educated” left feet, of “brilliant finishes” (that last term neatly overlapping with wine lingo).  All of this contributes to the popular notion that soccer and wine are the provinces of snobs and eggheads, not “normal” people.

I’ve mentioned something of Americans’ uneasy relationship with wine. We have a similarly uneasy relationship with soccer. While growing in popularity, particularly with young Americans and urban liberals, soccer has never been widely accepted here. The documentary Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos has an illuminating interview with John O’Reilly, the former New York Cosmos promotions director. O’Reilly describes the 1975 press conference that introduced Pele to the New York press after Pele signed with the team. O’Reilly recalls the influential, conservative New York sportswriter Dick Young shouting from the back of the crowded room: “[Young] was just heckling the entire time. ‘Soccer is for foreigners, shouldn’t be played in America!’ Everything negative.” Many American political conservatives continue to carry Young’s torch. Ann Coulter’s June 2014 jeremiad, “America’s Favorite National Pastime: Hating Soccer” is representative. Soccer, she writes, is “foreign” to Americans and is a threat to American values.

So while Americans are watching more soccer than ever—as evidenced by the strong ratings here for the 2014 World Cup and rising MLS attendance—there is still a sizeable contingent of intelligent citizens that regard soccer as un-American. And that contingent makes it nearly impossible for any American to regard watching soccer as Hemingway’s Europeans regarded drinking wine—“as something as healthy and normal.”

Glenn Davis, a former professional soccer player and current soccer radio and TV broadcaster for the Houston Dynamo, is a proselytizer of the game. I listen to his podcasts occasionally, and more than once I’ve heard him urge listeners to come down to Houston’s soccer stadium to enjoy “the company of like-minded individuals.” Every time Davis mentions “like-minded individuals,” I bristle. Because the comment speaks to soccer’s entrenched status in this country as a cult activity to be enjoyed not by all but by an enlightened few. Americans don’t go to NFL or NBA games to be in the company of like-minded individuals. They go to watch the games. And they assume there will be all types of people there—blacks and whites, conservatives and liberals, Budweiser drinkers and wine collectors—not just people like them.

For soccer to be widely accepted in this country, it doesn’t need more like-minded individuals. It doesn’t need more people who frequent Portland coffee houses and Brooklyn pubs. In other words, it doesn’t need more people like me. It needs more people who want to kick my Obama-voting, wine-note-taking ass. I may not want those people sitting next to me at MLS or U.S. national team games, but until there’s the strong possibility that they will be sitting next to me, soccer will continue to be, as Men in Blazers’ Roger Bennett and Michael Davies say, “America’s Sport of the Future. As it has been since 1972.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Ecuador, East Hartford, Connecticut, 10.10.14: Landon Donovan’s Last U.S. National Team Game

Barring a comeback, Landon Donovan has played his last game for the U.S. national team. I suspect most U.S. fans wish it hadn’t ended the way it did Friday night, with a friendly in a nondescript stadium in East Hartford, Connecticut, just a few months after Donovan had been cut from the 2014 World Cup team. Even if Donovan had scored the game winner, or scored at all, such a setting is not the stuff of storybooks.

When U.S. soccer announced in August that Donovan would make a final appearance for the U.S., he appeared to be in a no-win situation. If he played for Jurgen Klinsmann in a meaningless match after Klinsmann had cut him from the World Cup team—and after Klinsmann’s son had mocked Donovan on Twitter the day of the cuts—Donovan surely would lose face. If he declined the offer, he’d appear petty, like a child who picks up his ball and goes home after not getting his way.

After some initial reluctance, Donovan of course opted to play, which speaks well of him. In the days before the Ecuador game, he was candid about his relationship with Klinsmann (“Well, we don't have of a much a relationship after this summer, obviously”), but under the circumstances he was admirably restrained, in fact the opposite of the selfish brat many have painted him to be over the course of his career. When he was subbed off in the 42^nd minute on Friday, he shook hands with Klinsmann, and they shared a distant, fleeting hug. Donovan’s gesture, while obviously not brimming with affection, was far more than many of us would have granted Klinsmann had we been in Donovan’s place. ESPN announcer Taylor Twellman summed up the image well: “True professionals, shaking hands and moving on.”

Before he did move on from Klinsmann and the national team Friday night, Donovan looked as dangerous as anyone on the field. In the 4^th minute, he played an integral part in the buildup that led to the U.S.’s only goal, breaking down the U.S. left with the ball at his feet and lofting a pass across the face of goal to Jozy Altidore at the back post. Altidore settled the ball and sent a short back-pass to DeAndre Yedlin, who picked out Mix Diskerud near the penalty spot. Diskerud’s crisp near post finish capped an excellent team goal. Though Yedlin and Altidore got the assist, Diskerud made a beeline to Donovan and the two embraced. They were immediately joined by their delighted teammates.

One can only wonder what the celebrations would have been like had Donovan scored, which he nearly did on three occasions. Just minutes after the goal, Donovan snapped a header down into the turf but the shot was saved off the line. In the 38^th minute Altidore picked out Donovan at the top of the box and the latter dragged a shot wide far post. Donovan’s best opportunity, though, came in the 25^th minute, when Altidore anticipated his run with a nifty no-look back-heel pass. Under pressure, Donovan toe-poked a shot that looked to be going in but glanced off the inside of the far post. After the ball was eventually cleared, Donovan lay on the field, grabbing his head in dismay and disbelief as ESPN’s Ian Darke observed, “Well, maybe it’s just not going to be.”

Altidore did all he could to help Donovan get a goal, and in general the U.S. target forward had a strong game. Afterwards, he remarked, “I tried to set [Donovan] up a few times and do what he’s always done for me. He’s such a good player, you can still see that right away, and he has a smell for the game that other Americans don’t have. We’re going to miss that.” Donovan has assisted on 6 of Altidore’s 23 national team goals.

Regrettably, perhaps the most significant event in this game was an injury to young U.S. winger Joe Gyau, a powerful speedster who grew up in the D.C. area and now plays for Borussia Dortmund. Gyau played well in the first half of last month’s friendly against the Czech Republic. Against Ecuador, he didn’t get much of a chance to shine, grabbing at his knee during a dribbling run in the 13^th minute, and falling to the ground at midfield to call for a substitute a minute or two later. Gyau was later seen on the sideline on crutches, with an ice pack on his left knee. At the least, he will miss this Tuesday’s U.S. game against Honduras.

Yedlin and Diskerud turned in the strongest performances of the night for the U.S. In addition to his goal, Diskerud covered much ground and was notably effective applying defensive pressure, winning a number of challenges in the center of the field, as he did in the 34^th minute when he dispossessed an Ecuador player to start a U.S. buildup that ended with a Greg Garza shot.

Diskerud and Yedlin were two of only four U.S. players to go the full 90 minutes against Ecuador, and Yedlin was the only MLS player to do so. Yedlin’s club team, the Seattle Sounders, are likely not pleased about their starting right back playing an entire national-team friendly this late in the MLS season, as Seattle is in a fight for the best record in the league, which would give them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. To top off the pain of Yedlin playing the entire game, the Sounders were upset by the Vancouver Whitecaps while the U.S.-Ecuador match was unfolding.

Still, Sounders owners and management must be pleased with the quality of Yedlin’s performance on Friday. He was in my opinion the U.S. man of the match. For the first time while wearing a U.S. jersey, he played winger, not fullback. And his performance lays a solid foundation for the case that Yedlin—who can sometimes be a defensive liability—should play in the midfield rather than on the back line. Apart from a bad ball right to Ecuador’s keeper in the 2^nd minute, and getting beaten by Ecuador’s left back in the 77^th, Yedlin was excellent. He was confident and effective with the ball at his feet, and his passing was intelligent and accurate. He could have had at least two more assists than he did on the night, one chance coming on a great cross to Bobby Wood at the back post in the 66^th minute, and another in the 74^th minute on a similar ball to Altidore. Yedlin is just the kind of electric, smart, and technical young player the U.S. needs now that Donovan has retired.

I thought it might be fitting to end this post with a quote from former MLS MVP and Guatemala international Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz’s quote may never have been transcribed before, and occurred on a March 7, 2013 MLS Extratime Radio podcast, about five months after the U.S. had eliminated Guatemala from 2014 World Cup qualification. The U.S. had struggled somewhat in the semi-final round of CONCACAF qualification, and Donovan was in the middle of his hiatus from soccer, so his future with the U.S. team was uncertain. Ruiz’s comments show the respect Donovan commanded from one tough CONCACAF competitor, someone who (like Donovan, coincidentally) scored 57 international goals. Ruiz said: “Definitely it’s not the same like, a couple of years ago. It’s not the same. Landon is that piece in the national team, and nobody is going to play like he plays in the national team, you know. So, I hope Landon is healthy and can play with the national team. But it’s not the same. You know, the respect, like in Central American players we have for the United States in the past is not the same in this moment.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Belgium, Salvador, Brazil, 7.1.14

The U.S. lost to Belgium 2-1 yesterday to end their run in the 2014 World Cup. They exited the tournament with a record of one win, one draw, and two losses. In some ways, that unimpressive record belies the team’s level of play. The U.S. looked the better team in its draw with Portugal. They lost by a single goal to Germany, and had a decent chance to pull level at the end of that game. And the U.S. took a strong Belgium team into extra time, mounting a furious push in the game’s final fifteen minutes, pulling back a goal and nearly taking the game to penalty kicks.

More generally, it’s widely agreed that this 2014 team is a more talented group from top to bottom than any past U.S. team, with more players—like young fullback DeAndre Yedlin—who are capable of coming off the bench and making significant contributions. Most also agree that the team, as a group, plays at a higher technical level than past U.S. teams, that it is more dynamic, attack-minded, and pleasing to watch. In these aspects, the team reflects the confident and imposing personality of their current coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, who set out to change the U.S.’s style of play when he took over in 2011 and has made some progress in that area.

Taken another way, the 2014 World Cup is evidence that U.S. soccer’s progression over the last dozen or so years has been gradual at best, that the team still lacks difference-makers on the level of Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne and Germany’s Thomas Müller. You could make a strong argument that the U.S. was outplayed in three out of their four 2014 World Cup games. Against the high-powered teams in 2014, the U.S. reverted to form; they were back to playing the role of loveable, outgunned underdogs who try hard until the end, rely on their keeper, and fall short.

As results go, there is little difference between this team’s showing and the 2010 team’s showing in South Africa, when the U.S. won their group and lost to Ghana by a goal in extra time. And certainly, the U.S.’s 2014 World Cup falls short of the 2002 team’s run. That group advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost 1-0 to Germany in a game that easily could have gone the U.S.’s way. Yesterday, against Belgium, the U.S.’s best performance by a field player came from DaMarcus Beasley, who was also on the 2002 roster. That fact underscores the dearth of true difference-makers in the current U.S. program.

Speaking of older U.S. players making a difference: This game will be remembered by U.S. fans—and likely by many fans the world over—for the performance of 35-year-old U.S. keeper Tim Howard. Howard saved 16 shots, the most in a World Cup game since 1966. Almost immediately after the match, Belgium captain Vincent Kompany tweeted: “Two words.. TIM HOWARD #Respect #BelUSA.” Unfortunately, it would have taken a superhuman performance in goal, not merely a sublime one, to prevent a U.S. loss. Belgium created chance after chance in this game, and the goals were bound to come. Or, as Howard said after the game, at some point in that kind of situation, the levee has to break.

U.S. fans got a preview of Belgium’s quality last May, when they dismantled the Yanks 4-2 in a friendly that probably should have ended in a score of 5-1. I thought De Bruyne was the man of that match, and so he was again yesterday, when he had a goal and an assist. De Bruyne and his midfield mates controlled much of the game in Salvador, so much so that Jermaine Jones, who had been such a strong presence in midfield for the U.S. in this World Cup, failed to have much of an impact. (I see that at least one box score has the U.S. winning the possession battle, which is baffling if true and breathes new life into the term “meaningless possession.”) Michael Bradley played better than he had in the U.S.’s three previous games, but that’s not saying much. Apart from his spectacular assist on the U.S.’s late goal, and his usual high energy, he did not play well, giving away the ball too cheaply, both in the run of play and on dead-ball strikes. Alejandro Bedoya—another midfielder I’d had high hopes for coming into this match—put in a similar high-effort, mostly low-impact performance.

I mentioned earlier that Beasley had the best performance of any U.S. field player against Belgium, a performance that was eclipsed by Howard’s play and by the fact that the game ended in a U.S. loss. But let me repeat that Beasley was remarkable. He drew at least four fouls, consistently perfectly timed his steps to thwart Belgium attacks, got forward frequently, and played some dangerous crosses into the box. He saved the U.S.’s hide nearly as frequently as Howard did. Those who watched the U.S. in qualifiers and in the 2013 Gold Cup (where Beasley captained the champion U.S. side) know that his performance against Belgium was no fluke. He’s been one of the U.S.’s most consistent and best players over the last couple of years, which is all the more remarkable given that he’d nearly fallen out of the national team picture in 2010 and 2011. His late-career run will solidify Beasley’s status as one of the best U.S. soccer players ever.

Newcomer Yedlin complemented Beasley’s strong performance on the back line. Yedlin played most of the game at right back, after coming on in the 31^st minute for an injured Fabian Johnson. He attacked with visible confidence, getting forward repeatedly and by my count sending in at least five dangerous crosses over the course of the game. Perhaps even more impressively, he recovered well when the U.S. turned the ball over. He twice tracked back after getting forward to stop Belgium’s talented Eden Hazard, once in first-half stoppage time and again in the 82^nd minute. Klinsmann deserves credit not only for selecting the 20-year-old fullback for the final roster, but for playing him in critical situations. Klinsmann also placed confidence in forward Julian Green, who at 19 is now the youngest U.S. player ever to score in a World Cup. Green played only for the final 15 minutes against Belgium, but he changed the game, scoring a goal off a well-taken volley with his first touch after coming on.

Green almost didn’t get his chance. Remarkably given the run of play during the first 90 minutes, the U.S. nearly avoided extra time and won the game late in second-half stoppage time. With about a minute remaining, Geoff Cameron found himself with the ball about 30 yards from goal and lobbed a pass into the box. Jones headed the ball to substitute forward Chris Wondolowski, who was standing unmarked at the far post. But Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois closed Wondolowski down quickly, and the shot sailed over the target. Reflecting afterwards, Wondolowski neatly captured the situation: “It is a fickle game.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Germany, Recife, Brazil, 6.26.14

The U.S. played a conservative, mostly ugly game in their 1-0 loss to Germany today, but even a loss was good enough to see them through to the knockout round of the 2014 World Cup. The U.S.’s group has repeatedly been referred to as the “group of death,” a tired, misleading term that implies one group has been allotted fewer spots in the next round than the others. Here’s to hoping (however futilely) that this overused, overblown phrase loses traction before the 2018 World Cup.

To return to the subject of Group G: The Yanks’ chances did indeed look grim back in December when their opening-round opponents were announced. And yet now, after the games have actually been played, the U.S. can feel pretty fortunate that it belonged to a group in which one team was hampered by an unusually high number of injuries (Portugal) and another by player dissention and mismanagement (Ghana, rather like France four years ago). (This Washington Post piece summarizes the bizarre events surrounding the Black Stars over the last week, including a player slapping a member of team management and chasing him around a hotel with broken bottles, and Ghana’s president authorizing the air shipment of $3 million in cash to the team’s disgruntled players.)

The group, in other words, looks a lot less menacing now than it did in December, and the U.S. was able to advance on the strength of a mere four points and a superior goal differential to Portugal. Even given the mitigating factors, though, the U.S. deserves much credit for advancing. To begin with the obvious: Jermaine Jones has kept his temper in check and been a massive positive influence on the team. He had another strong game today, his third in a row. Not only was he more involved in the attack than lone striker Clint Dempsey (Jones twice nearly latched on to long balls after getting behind the German defense), he continued to act as a composed destroyer, which is to say (now that I mention it) that he continued to act German. I was particularly impressed when, shortly before halftime, he drew a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger and in the aftermath refused to be baited by Schweinsteiger, who stood over Jones and (I think) intentionally entangled his legs with Jones’s.

And then there’s coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who continued his run of effective lineup changes. Most surprisingly, he started Omar Gonzalez over regular center back Geoff Cameron. Given Cameron’s poor performance against Portugal, this is perhaps not a huge surprise, but Gonzalez had been in poor form going into camp, saw very little action in the three World Cup tune-up matches, and played a total of three minutes in the first two World Cup games. And those three minutes included Portugal’s last-gasp equalizer, for which some felt Gonzalez was at least partly to blame. Furthermore, given Klinsmann’s penchant for players from European leagues, one would have expected Cameron (who plays in England) to start over Gonzalez (who plays in MLS). But Klinsmann again defied expectations. Gonzalez went the full 90 minutes against Germany, and justified his coach’s decision by making some timely clearances and turning in one of the best U.S. performances of the night.

Klinsmann’s other surprise substitute against Germany was Brad Davis, who played ahead of Alejandro Bedoya. Davis was not the revelation Gonzalez was against Germany; in fact he was largely a nonfactor. Bedoya came on for him in the last 30 minutes and was his usual active self. He even got a good look at goal in stoppage time, but his shot was blocked. Though he’s had a quiet tournament so far, I like Bedoya’s game, especially his defense and his ability to create chances for his teammates. (Regrettably, he’s particularly good at linking up with the absent Landon Donovan.) He’s a sometimes-overlooked player who is due for a good game against Belgium, and I think he’ll regain his starting spot against them.

Another U.S. player due for a good game is Michael Bradley. But he continues to struggle in this World Cup. He looked frustrated against Germany, trying to will himself into the game by applying high pressure that was frequently ineffective. He also had a number of giveaways. Had the U.S. been eliminated today, his overall performance probably would have ranked with Donovan’s disappointing 2006 World Cup. But of course Bradley has a chance to redeem himself against Belgium, and I don’t see a player of his quality and determination having four dud performances in a row.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Portugal, Manaus, Brazil, 6.22.14

Portugal dominated the first ten minutes of this match, scoring early after a botched clearance from U.S. center back Geoff Cameron. After that, though, it became increasingly clear that Portugal was committing players forward at the expense of its defense. When the U.S. did gain possession, Portugal looked vulnerable, leaving open vast swaths of grass for U.S. attackers to run on to. And the U.S.—a team many expected to bunker down—took full advantage, repeatedly sending fullbacks forward.

The U.S.’s aggressive tactical approach against Portugal was just one of the many surprises of this entertaining World Cup, a tournament that has Costa Rica on the verge of winning a group that contains three previous World Cup champions. Certainly no one expected that. (One Vegas sports book I checked a few weeks ago had Costa Rica as a 1000-1 shot to win the tournament.) It’s early, but nonetheless there’s a feeling that this might be the World Cup in which a dark horse—a true dark horse, not Belgium—might be the last team standing, and that that team might even emerge from the frequently dismissed CONCACAF federation. As I type this, not only has Costa Rica qualified for the round of 16, but Mexico has as well.

The U.S. team has also surprised many, and after the 2-2 draw with Portugal has a good shot of making the round of 16. Some individual U.S. players have also turned in notably unexpected performances. Jermaine Jones, for example, has long been considered the epitome of a talented but frustratingly inconsistent and undisciplined player. And yet, in the U.S.’s first two impressive 2014 World Cup showings, Jones has been the team’s most consistently effective player. And he’s only drawn a single yellow card in those two hectic contests.

Michael Bradley, by contrast, had been a pillar of consistency throughout World Cup qualifying, a universally respected player that commentators and fans climb all over each other to praise. But he played poorly in the U.S.’s opening victory against Ghana, and his performance against Portugal was defined not by redemption, but by two agonizing miscues. He failed to convert an uncontested shot from six yards out in the 55^th minute, and late in stoppage time he got run off the ball in midfield, sparking the break that led to Portugal’s tying goal.

In the months before this World Cup, many commentators insisted that if the U.S. was to emerge from Group G, it would do so because of the stellar play of Bradley, not Jones or anyone else. It might be closer to the mark to say that the U.S. has enjoyed success so far in spite of Bradley’s play. But this particular surprise actually reflects the progression of a U.S. program that now has a relatively deep talent pool and no longer needs to rely on a single player to succeed in big games against quality opponents. Some of the credit for this progression must go to current coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Many of us have criticized his public treatment of some of his players and his final roster selection, but his won-loss record so far is impressive and his team’s confident, modern and attacking style of play is often exciting.

Some of the credit must also go to Major League Soccer, which was founded less than 20 years ago and has helped develop not only Bradley, but Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard and so many of the players on the current U.S. roster. (And a few on the current Costa Rica roster, too.) The U.S.’s critical second goal against Portugal began with the German-American Jones, but then went through DeAndre Yedlin, Bradley, Graham Zusi, and Dempsey—all current MLS players who also began their careers in that league.

It will be fascinating to see how those MLS players and the rest of the U.S. team fare against the more accomplished German players on Thursday. Because while last night’s game was impressive—and I do think reflected ongoing positive changes in the U.S. program—it must be noted that Portugal was without four starters due to injuries and a suspension. And Ronaldo, who has tendinitis in his left knee, was clearly not at his best and fittest; in the 34^th minute he was already grabbing his knees in the humid conditions. German players are by contrast healthy and not serving suspensions. So Klinsmann may tell his team to shelve the overlapping runs and attacking style in favor of sitting back and looking to counter, as so many outclassed U.S. teams have done in the past. But I wouldn’t bet on it.