U.S. Men’s National Team v. Brazil in Landover, MD, 5.30.12

It’s almost axiomatic that U.S. soccer fans overestimate our hardworking, sometimes charismatic, but (let’s face it) by-world-standards mostly mid-level players. We especially overestimate them in the run-up to games against quality opponents. We’re very strong, we think, rubbing our hands and grinning, secure in our knowledge of the game, we can beat these guys! We chant out the players’ names in Yeatsian fashion, Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley and Howard! That’s quality!

And it is, they are quality players. But it’s easy to forget that even someone like Clint Dempsey—who many experts feel is coming off the best season ever for an American soccer player—is ranked only 42 in last week’s Guardian list of Europe’s top 50 transfer targets for summer 2012. It is pleasant and unaccustomed news that a U.S. player should infiltrate such a list, but that just shows how far we have to go in the world of soccer. In what other sport would U.S. writers and commentators get excited because one of our guys was slotted at number 42 on a list of players that might be targeted by good teams? It is true that Dempsey was recently voted the fourth best player in the English Premier League, but there seems to be no hard evidence that teams like Arsenal and Manchester United are breaking down the door to get him, or that Dempsey would necessarily start for those teams even if they do sign him.

All of which is to say that we should have foreseen the U.S.’s 4-1 loss tonight to soccer powerhouse Brazil. Incidentally, there are seven Brazilian players on that Guardian top-50 list, though only three of them (Thiago Silva, Hulk, and Neymar) played tonight. Another who was not on the list—Real Madrid defender Marcelo Vieira—was perhaps the strongest player on the field, dispossessing U.S. attackers a number of times, pressing forward and scoring in the 57^th minute, and sending a pinpoint lofted pass to Alexandre Pato at the back post in the 87^th to get an assist on the final goal of the night.

That last goal probably best showed the difference in quality between the two teams. The goal came off a counter, after a string of good chances created, but not finished, by the U.S. The U.S. defense looked rigid and disorganized on the play. Pato calmly took Marcello’s pass down with his chest and, from a tough angle, slotted the goal past Tim Howard. Brazil made the difficult look way too easy, which only the very best teams can do.

But why dwell on the quality gap? If it’s almost axiomatic that U.S. fans are too hopeful before matches against very good teams, we are also tiresomely predictable about lamenting the sorry state of U.S. soccer after losing. While the U.S. deserved to lose tonight, and I’d argue that the 4-1 score line was indicative of the run of play (despite a penalty kick awarded to Brazil on a dubious hand-ball call on Oguchi Onyewu), the U.S. played well in stretches, especially at the end of the second half, when they routinely threatened.

Former MLS and current Mexico first division player Herculez Gomez scored on a quality goal at the end of the first half, nearly scored again in the 76^th minute on a killer strike, and worked hard to win the ball back when Brazil had it (and they had it a lot). He was tracking back to win the ball in the U.S. half even in the closing minutes. Michael Bradley had another strong game, both in his passing and his defensive positioning, as did left back Fabian Johnson, who attacked from his left back position when he could. (Bradley and Johnson set up Gomez’s goal on an overlapping run by Johnson.) Landon Donovan did not have a stellar game—he gave away too many passes—but he did see a lot of the ball and made some good passes along with the ones that got away, including a good through ball to Bradley in the 79^th minute that created a solid chance for the U.S. Donovan also took what seemed like a dozen free kicks, all of them dangerously placed. 

Lastly, Donovan was joined on the playing field by Clint Dempsey, who came on in the 56^th minute for Jose Torres. It was the first time Dempsey and Donovan have played together under Jurgen Klinsmann. And while that duo may not be Neymar and Hulk, they are dangerous and worth watching. Dempsey nearly scored in the 87^th minute, and his ball in to Gomez in the 76^th minute was a beauty. I’m not at this moment deluded enough to think U.S. soccer is on a level with Brazil’s, but still-young and impressive U.S. veterans like Dempsey et al., along with skillful, hustling newcomers like Johnson, Gomez, and Torres, give us hope that the team will play at a consistently high level during the upcoming World Cup qualifying run, and that we'll all be rubbing our hands and grinning at the possibilities in 2014.