U.S. Men’s National Team v. Honduras, Arlington, Texas, 7.24.13

Landon Donovan continues building the case that he is the best ever U.S. soccer player. He scored twice and had an assist in the U.S.’s 3-1 Gold Cup semi-final victory over Honduras in Cowboys stadium. Through five 2013 Gold Cup matches, Donovan has seven assists and five goals. Those figures extend his U.S. goal and assist records to 56 apiece, remarkable numbers.

Given the perception among many that Donovan is a selfish brat, it’s worth reminding people of his talent and willingness to put goals on a platter for his teammates. I’ve noted the following fact at least twice before on this blog, but I’ll note it again: the second all-time U.S. assist man is Cobi Jones, who has 22. That’s less than 40% of Donovan’s current total, and it took Jones more games to achieve that number. And Jones is of course long retired, so he can’t add to it. The closest active players on the U.S. assist list are DaMarcus Beasley, with 13, and Clint Dempsey, with 12. In the hugely unlikely event that Beasley and Dempsey double their current respective totals before they retire, they’ll still have less than half of Donovan’s current total.

Donovan’s 56 international assists and 56 international goals speak to his high soccer IQ—to his knowledge of when to shoot and when to pass, when to dribble and when to play a one-touch pass, where and when to make runs, how to read the runs of his teammates and the likely actions of defenders, where and to whom to play passes, and much else. Basically, he knows what it takes to win soccer games. All of that has been on display in this Gold Cup, and much of it was there to see against Honduras.

The first U.S. goal against Honduras came in the 11^th minute, amidst complete U.S. domination of the run of play. With Clarence Goodson holding the ball on the U.S. side of the field, Donovan showed to the ball about 45 yards from the Honduras goal. Goodson wisely played it to him. Eddie Johnson, reading Donovan perfectly, feinted toward Goodson’s pass but let it run by him, then turned and ran to goal. Meanwhile, Donovan read Johnson’s mind and played a flawless one-time ball into space for him. Johnson took a couple of appropriately heavy touches and shot over the flatfooted Honduras keeper and high into the middle of the net.

Johnson looked strong in this game, as he did coming on for Chris Wondolowski in the quarterfinal against El Salvador. In that game, Johnson’s flicked-on header from a ball played from the back set up Donovan’s goal. Against Honduras, Johnson proved that flicked-on header against El Salvador was no fluke. He had two such passes in Texas. Both were to Alejandro Bedoya, one in the 27^th minute that ended in a Bedoya assist (and a Donovan goal), and one in the 50^th minute that led to a good shot by Bedoya.

Johnson played the full 90 minutes against Honduras, and given his performance I’d be surprised if Chris Wondolowski—let alone Alan Gordon or Will Bruin—sees the field in Sunday’s final against Panama. Then again, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has continued to baffle, delight, and succeed with his starting lineups in this tournament, and I wouldn’t rule anything out. I doubt I was the only U.S. fan to raise an eyebrow when he started Bedoya over Joe Corona against Honduras. Corona has played well lately, especially when linking up with Donovan. But Klinsmann’s decision to start Bedoya was prescient. Bedoya did lose his mark on Honduras’s only goal—a free kick from Marvin Chavez to Nery Media—but he assisted on both Donovan goals. I won’t describe those goals, since probably everyone but Donovan’s mother is now tired of reading about him. And I, too, would prefer to watch him play, so I’ve included highlights of the game below.

Before closing, let me quote the following, from the U.S. Soccer website: “Nick Rimando became the fifth U.S. goalkeeper in the modern era to post five victories during a calendar year, improving to 5-0-0 in 2013.” Those of us who follow MLS know just how good Rimando is. And it’s testimony to the play of guys like Tim Howard and Kasey Keller that the 34-year-old Rimando hasn’t seen much international action. That’s too bad, because not only is he an excellent keeper, he is, for me at least, one of those rare athletes whom you just have to like, even when you’re rooting against them and their teams. God knows a lot of athletes—and perhaps in particular a lot of goalkeepers—can seem like dicks from afar. For whatever reasons, though, Rimando just exudes the air of someone who is what I can only call a good guy. And it’s great for me (a New England Revolution fan) to watch him play for the national team and have the luxury of rooting for him wholeheartedly. As the above U.S. Soccer quote attests, he has not disappointed.

 

U.S. Men’s National Team v. El Salvador, Baltimore, Maryland, 7.21.13

The U.S. beat El Salvador 5-1 in a game that could have been even more lopsided had the U.S. taken most of their chances. It was played in Baltimore, in an NFL stadium, and by the looks of the stands on TV the crowd was about 80% pro-El Salvador. The Salvadoran players put forth a decent effort, but only their striker Rodolfo Zelaya really shone, more than once making U.S. defenders look as if he were shining a spotlight in their faces as he dribbled at and around them. On one run to the U.S. end line in the 25^th minute, Zelaya created what should have been an assist with a ball across the face of goal. Ten minutes later, he cut the U.S. lead to 2-1 with a swift lateral run through the box that ended with a DaMarcus Beasley foul. Zelaya calmly chipped the ensuing penalty kick down the middle.

Mostly, though, Zelaya’s teammates showed a lack of quality, repeatedly sending shots and crosses high and/or wide. To the U.S.’s credit, they did not play down to the competition. Landon Donovan showed yet again why he has more than twice as many assists as anyone to wear a U.S. jersey. I mentioned in a post last month that his knack for creating chances is perhaps not as widely recognized as it should be, most commentators preferring to dwell on his U.S. goal-scoring record. I hesitate to sing his praises yet again for fear of being boring, but he was clearly the story of this game. He had another three assists, had a big hand in creating a fourth U.S. goal, and scored the fifth himself. It should be added that he did finish poorly on occasion, and pretty easily could have had a hat trick to go along with those three assists.

Donovan’s old 1999 U-17 World Cup teammate Kyle Beckerman had a notable game as well. It took him a while to get his footing. Early on, he dwelled on the ball and was dispossessed, made a bad pass or two, and generally looked slow when El Salvador countered. But his day progressed nicely. He made a few stunning passes, including one long ball to Joe Corona in the 20^th minute and a pass to Donovan in the 83^rd that led to a Mix Diskerud goal. (Beckerman got the hockey assist on that one.) He also hit two good knuckling shots from distance in the second half, the rebounds from either of which might have led to U.S. goals.

Recent call up Eddie Johnson also turned in a memorable performance. Sporting a new blond dye-job with shaved lightning-bolt accent, he came on for Chris Wondolowski in the 60^th minute while the U.S. were setting up for a corner kick. No exaggeration, Johnson scored within 20 seconds of setting foot on the field. He jogged from the sideline to the penalty box, then ran onto a Donovan cross at the near post with all the apparent force and strength of a comic-book hero meting out justice in the final panels. The El Salvador defenders did all they could to make him look good by not marking him, but still, Johnson looked powerful on the play.

And so the U.S. has extended its win streak to nine games and is 4-0 in the Gold Cup. They’ve outscored their opponents by combined score of 16-3 in this tournament, but we should remember that the U.S. beat Costa Rica by only a single goal last week. And Costa Rica lost to Honduras today. That sets up a tough match for the U.S. this Wednesday in Dallas, where there will no doubt be many Honduras supporters in the stands. We should also remember that Honduras beat the U.S. in February in a World Cup qualifier.

Strange to say, though, a feeling of optimism has attached itself to, or is emanating from, this U.S. team. I doubt if anyone on that team is certain of a victory this Wednesday. But if they put forth the kind of effort they did today, it’s fair to say the U.S. will likely beat Honduras and advance to the final.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Costa Rica, East Hartford, Connecticut, 7.16.13

The U.S. men’s national team beat Costa Rica for their record eighth straight victory. And unlike recent outings against Cuba, Belize, and Guatemala, this was not primarily an opportunity for U.S. attackers to pad their stats. It was an evenly matched affair between two teams that, going into last Tuesday’s match, had an all-time head-to-head record of 12-12-6. The game was decided by a single goal, and the Yanks easily could’ve lost it.

It turned, heartbreakingly for the Ticos, in the 82^nd minute. Costa Rica midfielder Celso Borges hit a good corner kick to the back of the six that found MLS standout Alvaro Saborio, whose header was saved spectacularly by Sean Johnson. (After watching the replay a half a dozen times, I still can’t tell if Saborio’s shot was going in or if it would’ve hit the crossbar.) The rebound was headed clear and eventually fell to Joe Corona, who, his head coach on the sideline imploring him to look up field, hit a good ball down the U.S. right sideline to Landon Donovan. Donovan, calm and fluid, looked over his back shoulder and then over his front, let the ball bounce once at his feet, and knifed a flawless pass into space between two backtracking Costa Rica defenders. Brek Shea sprinted onto the pass, settled it with a soft touch, and struck a partially deflected low shot over Costa Rica’s goalkeeper and into the goal. In the space of twenty seconds, Costa Rica had gone from nearly winning the game to losing it.

Shea had come into the game as a substitute in the 77^th minute. It’s fair to say that after his poor performance against Cuba a few days prior, most coaches would not have sent him on against Costa Rica. But Jurgen Klinsmann gave Shea another shot, just as he’s given guys like Chris Wondolowski, DaMarcus Beasley, and Stuart Holden multiple chances to succeed.

While it’s too early to judge Klinsmann’s time as head coach of the U.S. men’s national team, he’s done exceptionally well so far. The current historic winning streak started with an upset of his native Germany and was followed by three critical World Cup qualifying wins over Jamaica, Panama, and Honduras. Not only that, Klinsmann’s record against rival Mexico is 1-0-2, including the U.S.’s first-ever victory in Mexico.

Klinsmann is a departure from the obsessively focused, outwardly humorless, crypto militaristic kind of coach Americans are used to, regardless of sport, from Bobby Knight to Tom Coughlin to Bob Bradley. Klinsmann smiles a lot in interviews and can seem at times goofy. He’s fluent in five languages. He flies helicopters. On the sidelines, he often looks like an aging Brooklyn hipster on his way to a Spoon show, as he did against Costa Rica, sporting khakis, sneakers, and a tasteful long-sleeved shirt with a throwback centennial U.S. logo on it. He gives guys like Shea second chances and seems genuinely happy if they succeed.

But a core of Teutonic ruthlessness runs through Klinsmann. Clearly displeased with Donovan’s extended vacation from soccer, he left him off the roster from the last round of qualifiers and is making Donovan prove himself with a young B-team squad in the unglamorous Gold Cup. Klinsmann has for all intents and purposes cut long-time U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra, though Bocanegra is not injured and the U.S. has an inexperienced, shallow center-back pool. When asked about Clint Dempsey’s impressive accomplishments in the English Premier league, Klinsmann said of his star attacker, “He hasn’t done shit.” In short, Klinsmann is one of Germany’s best-ever strikers, and nothing any U.S. player does on the field is going to impress him much.

When the final group-stage Gold Cup roster was announced, it struck me as more of a C-team than a B-team. I’d expected MLS players like Graham Zusi, Omar Gonzalez, and Eddie Johnson to be included. (As I understand it now, Klinsmann agreed not to call MLS players for the group stage if they’d been on the roster for the recent round of qualifiers.) Now that the group stage is complete, however, I’ve grown to really like this team, and I even think it would give the A-team a run for its money, especially if the Gold Cup squad got to keep DaMarcus Beasley. Donovan and Beasley have played very well in the Gold Cup, Chris Wondolowski has scored five goals in three group games, Stuart Holden and Mix Diskerud have looked strong (if inconsistent) in the midfield, and Jose Torres has also looked very good on the ball. Corona has been strong too, especially working with Donovan in the final third. I like the center back pairing of Michael Orozco and Clarence Goodson, and the latter was perhaps man of the match against Costa Rica.

So I give Klinsmann a lot of credit for choosing this roster. It’s certainly made for an exciting tournament for U.S. fans, with a 3-0 record, 11 goals scored and only 2 conceded. On Wednesday, Klinsmann tweaked the Gold Cup roster slightly for the knockout stage, calling in Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, Alan Gordon, and Eddie Johnson. Out are Oguchi Onyewu and Herculez Gomez (both due to injury), along with Corey Ashe and Jack McInerney, neither of whom played in the group games or in the Guatemala friendly.

I was a little surprised that two center backs were called in, given the general effectiveness of Goodson and Orozco and the relatively poor outside-back defensive play of Edgar Castillo and Tony Beltran. But how can you question Klinsmann’s judgment at this point? He’s done a wonderful job of creating a healthy competition for roster positions and playing time, of calling in an exciting Gold Cup team, and of getting good results.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Cuba, Sandy, Utah, 7.13.13

 

The U.S. men’s national team’s 4-1 Gold Cup win over Cuba yesterday generated many storylines. The U.S. has now posted three consecutive victories with margins of three goals or more, the first time that’s happened since I don’t know when. (I checked the USMNT site, which has results posted back to 2006, and the team hadn’t strung together three lopsided victories since that time.) Chris Wondolowski scored his fifth goal in two group games, and if he and the U.S. keep this up he’ll be the player of the tournament. Landon Donovan also scored again and continues to play at a high level. (Brian Sciaretta of The New York Times had him as man of the match.) After impressive games against Guatemala and Belize, Stuart Holden was ineffectual and Brek Shea dreadful against Cuba. (Shea was subbed out at halftime, Holden in the 58^th minute.)

For me, though, this game crystalized only one important fact: that Edgar Castillo should not play defense for the U.S. men’s national team. Castillo’s first half against Cuba was every bit as dreadful as Shea’s, and more costly since Castillo plays closer to the U.S. goal. If there was a guy for Cuba that looked like he could’ve infiltrated a decent roster, it was their number 11, Ariel Martinez. In the 28^th minute, Martinez nearly beat Castillo off the dribble in midfield, but Castillo saved himself and the team by a decent slide tackle. Still, the play made Castillo look vulnerable, as he so often looks in the back.

Just eight minutes later, Martinez punished Castillo and put Cuba up 1-0. After fellow U.S. fullback Tony Beltran made a shaky offensive run and was dispossessed, Cuba quickly countered, Martinez skinned Castillo in the U.S. penalty box, driving to the end line and playing a pass back to the top of the six, where a poorly positioned Oguchi Onyewu could do nothing more than lunge in the direction of Cuban striker Jose Alfonso, who scored off a clinical volley. Within a couple of minutes, Marinez again burned Castillo in the U.S. box, creating a good chance for Cuba that they didn’t take.

Apart from the Cuba game, Castillo has played fullback for the U.S. in at least four other matches: against Germany this year; against Canada last year; and against Costa Rica and Mexico in 2011. Against Germany, he came on for DaMarcus Beasley in the 56^th minute and the U.S. gave up two goals in the next 25 minutes. Castillo gave the German attackers way too much time and space, especially on their final goal. Against Canada, Castillo misplayed a back-pass in Canada’s final third that led directly to a Canada goal. He did not impress against Costa Rica or Mexico either.

I think there’s a place for Castillo on the national team, but not on defense. He’s a skilled, effective attacker. Against Cuba he worked extremely well in the second half with substitute Jose Torres down the U.S. left flank. His pass back to Stuart Holden in the 57^th minute led to a stunning goal from Joe Corona. In the 85^th minute, Castillo was part of an excellent sequence that included a deft outside-of-the-foot chip over the defense by Torres. Castillo then unselfishly chested the ball down to Wondolowski, who scored his second goal. In stoppage time, Castillo almost scored himself.

Castillo, then, is an attacker, not a defender, and he can help the U.S. in the midfield.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Belize, Portland, 7.9.13: The Folly and Irresistibility of Player Ratings

Whether or not U.S. critics and readers are more prone than their non-U.S. counterparts to assign, pore over, and otherwise value “ratings” of athletic performances, restaurants, rock albums, cars, hotels, books, and almost everything else that can be consumed in one way or another is debatable. I’ve certainly read that Americans are unusually obsessed with ratings, and there’s evidence for this on websites and magazine racks across the country. Then again, the archetype of ratings guides is not American, but French. The Michelin Guide began assigning stars to restaurants back in 1926 and is now so powerful that at least one French chef may have killed himself over the prospect of his restaurant losing its three-star status.

I trust that no American soccer player has ever grown despondent over a critic’s rating of his game performance. But God knows most players will have an opportunity to see their performances rated after a game is played. The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Goal.com, Soccer America, and many other publications that report on soccer more or less regularly publish player ratings, typically based on a ten-point scale.

It must be said, or rather repeated, that there’s an element of ridiculousness to all ratings that aren’t strictly scientific, that aren’t essentially Geiger counters measuring radiation levels. Soccer ratings have long struck me as particularly ridiculous. How can a soccer writer pretend to judge all the players in a match, or even just players from one team, based on a single broadcast or on seeing the game in person? An individual player’s performance must be judged in large part by his movement off the ball—in some cases well away from the ball—and no single person can keep track of every player on the field at all times. Without actually painstakingly studying game film in the manner of professional coaches and scouts, I don’t see how a single person watching a game from start to finish once, especially on a TV (which captures only a fraction of the field), can seriously rate all the players’ performances.

Readers of player ratings should also remind themselves that critics have personal preferences like everybody else. I happen to love the way DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan play soccer. If I were to rate those players’ performances using a numeric scale, I might unconsciously overrate them, or even try to compensate for my known preferences and adjust my ratings downward, potentially underrating them. In any case, I know it’s difficult for me to be objective about them. This is true when criticizing a player in prose, of course, but writing naturally involves opinion and argument, and numbers imply scientific objectivity.

I’ve often wondered when reading player ratings (and game commentary) if there are critics’ darlings in soccer, just as there are in other areas like music and drama. I think there must be. And while it’s practically impossible to support this with evidence, I’d say that Clint Dempsey is a U.S. soccer critics’ darling, that our soccer writers are less likely to negatively criticize him after a mediocre performance than they are most other players. Michael Bradley and Stuart Holden I also suspect are currently critics’ darlings, even more so than Dempsey at the moment.

Yes, by virtually any standard, Dempsey and Bradley are now the U.S.’s top outfield players. But the point here is that their reputations, however justified, almost certainly affect critics’ ratings of their individual performances. What professional critic wants to put his head on the block and claim that a great player had an off day, unless there’s zero ambiguity about it? Similarly, a guy like Jermaine Jones, who has an equally justified reputation for erratic, undisciplined play, may sometimes not receive the high ratings another player might get after a good performance. Jones also has to my mind—and I suspect to many others—an ugly game. And I suspect that that ugly game affects critics when they rate Jones’s performances. Should it? Chelsea’s victory over Barcelona in the 2012 Champion’s League final proved beyond a doubt that aesthetics have zero bearing on the outcome of a game. And you could make a strong argument that aesthetics shouldn’t factor into player ratings, but I believe they do.

Finally, I believe the final score of a game skews the average player rating. It’s a little like the old saying: a rising tide floats all boats. And a victory raises all ratings. Should it? If a team scores a fluke goal at the end of a game, should all of that team’s player ratings be affected as a result? Similarly, should the losing team’s players’ scores be adjusted downward after the fluke goal? In theory I think player ratings should remain unaffected in such a situation, but in practice I strongly suspect that they are affected.

For those reasons and others, I’ve never seriously been tempted to assign player ratings. But I admit that I’m drawn to reading player ratings, just as many other fans are, judging by the number of ratings published after U.S. men’s national team games. So as an exercise, after the U.S.’s snow game against Costa Rica in March, I decided to jot down my own player ratings. I then compared my scores to four published ratings. My ratings were more or less in line with all of them, but virtually identical to Avi Creditor's at Sports Illustrated. I suppose that’s evidence (however meager) that Creditor and I see the game in much the same way, or appreciate the same qualities in players.

Unfortunately (unless I missed something) Creditor did not publish player ratings of the U.S. men’s national team’s recent 6-1 victory over Belize in Portland. I decided to write and publish here my player ratings from that game. I wrote the ratings a day or two afterwards, basing them on my notes (and my memory, obviously). I apparently overrated Donovan, rating him slightly higher than Chris Wondolowski, who scored a hat trick and therefore realistically must have been man of the match. Still, I stand by the claim that Donovan had a fantastic game, and it’s a wonder given all the chances he created that he only had two assists. Oddly, I appear to have underrated my man Beasley. (I certainly didn’t do that after the Costa Rica game. Beasley was magnificent in that one.)

My player ratings for the Gold Cup match against Belize appear in the table below (MAS=Missed a Sitter), along with those published by Brian Sciaretta in The New York Times (NYT), Greg Seltzer in mlssoccer.com (MLS), and Steve Davis in ProSoccerTalk (PST). If a player played less than 90 minutes, then the number of minutes played appears in parentheses beside his name. Four players received individual ratings with variations of at least two points, and I’ve highlighted those ratings. One of the players was the goalkeeper, Nick Rimando, always a tough position to judge in a rout. The average player rating from each source appears in the last row, the average rating for each player in the last column.

U.S. Men’s National Team Player Ratings, v. Belize, July 9

U.S. Player	MAS	NYT	MLS	PST	Average
Clarence Goodson	5.5	5	6.5	7	6.0
Michael Orozco	6.5	5.5	7	7	6.5
Michael Parkhurst	4.5	5	6	5	5.1
DaMarcus Beasley	6	6	6.5	7	6.4
Mix Diskerud	5.5	6	7	5	5.9
Joe Corona (66)	6	5	5.5	6	5.6
José Francisco Torres (61)	5.5	6	6	5	5.6
Kyle Beckerman (45)	5.5	4.5	6.5	6	5.6
Chris Wondolowski	8	7.5	7.5	8	7.8
Landon Donovan	8.5	7	7	7	7.4
Nick Rimando	5	5	6.5	7	5.9
Alejandro Bedoya (24)	5.5	5.5	5.5	6	5.6
Stuart Holden (45)	6.5	7	7	7	6.9
Brek Shea (29)	5.5	5	5.5	6	5.5
Average Rating	6.0	5.7	6.4	6.4	6.1

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Guatemala, San Diego, 7.5.13

 

Guatemala played a disciplined, effective, defensive-minded game for about thirty-five minutes last night against the U.S in this friendly in San Diego. The Guatemalans ceded possession but didn’t allow any chances and came close to scoring in the 8^th minute off a counterattack that left the U.S. backline looking disorganized. Around the 38^th minute, however, Landon Donovan moved from the midfield to a forward position, and the U.S. began to take hold of the game. In the 39^th minute, DaMarcus Beasley sent a cross in to Donovan at the six, and Donovan’s glancing one-time shot skipped just wide of the near post. A couple of minutes later, with Donovan and Joe Corona occupying the attention of three defenders in the box, Jose Torres found Herculez Gomez wide open at the back post, and the latter’s volley put the U.S. up 1-0.

The U.S. proceeded to overwhelm Guatemala. Halftime U.S. substitutes Mix Diskerud and Stuart Holden played a large part in changing the game, controlling the midfield and creating chance after chance for U.S. attackers. Brek Shea, another halftime sub, made what seemed like, and may actually have been, a dozen unimpeded dribbling runs down the left sideline. Shea looked a little uncertain at times, not surprising given his recent history of nagging injuries and lack of club play at Stoke City, and horribly mishit one cross in the 80^th minute. But otherwise he had a notably and unexpectedly good game, assisting on the U.S.’s final goal, in the 88^th minute, and just a minute later nearly scoring himself on one of those dribbling runs.

The big story of this Gold Cup tune-up friendly was, of course, Donovan’s return to the national team. As he almost always does in a U.S. jersey, Donovan acquitted himself well, scoring twice (his 50^th and 51^st international goals) and making a wonderful dribbling run through the midfield to set up a Chris Wondolowski goal (Wondolowski’s first for the national team). After Donovan scored his first of the night—off a penalty-kick—the NBC Sports cameras showed a nice shot of him and longtime U.S. teammate Beasley hugging in celebration. It’s remarkable how good Donovan and Beasley still are, and easy to forget that they were the only players on the U.S. 2002 World Cup finals roster that were born in the 1980s. I can’t imagine that the 2014 U.S. roster, which will be comprised mostly of players born in that decade, won’t benefit enormously from their inclusion. Beasley, by the way, captained the U.S. last night, and there’s no better choice to lead this Gold Cup group, except maybe Donovan himself.

The current U.S. roster is an intriguing mix of young and old players, though the backline last night—Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu, and Michael Parkhurst along with Beasley—are all over 30, with the exception of Parkhurst, who will be 30 in January. They played the entire match, a good idea given that it’s a new combination, though Klinsmann didn’t have many options. (Corey Ashe is injured and Edgar Castillo started in the midfield.) It was a mixed day for them, even given the fact that they were largely untested and emerged with a clean sheet. Goodson scored, but gave the ball away cheaply on a couple of occasions and easily could have been called for a foul in the box in the 61^st minute when he pulled down a Guatemala attacker. Onyewu got beaten in the box in the 17^th minute (fortunately, Parkhurst was there to clean up the mess), but he looked strong in the air. Parkhurst had a solid defensive outing, but didn’t generate much offense (not that he needed to, true). His fellow outside back Beasley had the most complete game of the bunch, routinely attacking down the U.S. left sideline.

Given how tough Guatemala played in the semi-final round of World Cup qualifiers, I was surprised by how out-classed they were by this U.S. roster, which is without A-teamers like Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Graham Zusi. Part of the U.S.’s success last night must go to coach Jurgen Klinsmann. I’ve sometimes wondered if Klinsmann’s treatment of Donovan is borderline disrespectful given the latter’s accomplishments for the U.S. national team. But Donovan’s spirited, effective play last night and his generally humble and enthusiastic comments about playing for this Gold Cup team lead me to believe that Klinsmann may be handling Donovan’s return from self-imposed exile perfectly.

And for those who, like me, were occasionally frustrated by the humdrum predictability of the rosters released by prior USMNT coaches Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, how can you not love a Gold Cup team that includes not only former youth phenoms Beasley and Donovan, but late bloomer Horatio Alger types Herculez Gomez and Chris Wondolowski, a record six players from Mexico’s Liga MX, young MLS strikers Will Bruin and Jack McInerney, and talented-but-injury-plagued potential-feel-good-story Stuart Holden?

Good will for the current side will of course evaporate if it struggles in the coming tournament. But if the team actually goes on to win the Gold Cup—not an implausible outcome given last night’s performance—Klinsmann will face difficult decisions when choosing the roster for the last round of World Cup qualifiers and, with luck, for the 2014 World Cup finals. And that prospect of a deep and diverse talent pool fiercely competing for slots is a strong inducement to get behind this unusual and promising 2013 U.S. Gold Cup team.