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.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Ghana, Natal, Brazil, 6.16.14

The U.S. beat Ghana 2-1 in a performance that confounded expectations. The standout U.S. players of the three preceding friendlies—Michael Bradley and Fabian Johnson—were largely nonfactors. U.S. players that have reputedly been trained by Klinsmann to run all day and night spent much of the game grabbing their hamstrings and sucking wind. And the game’s hero—young substitute center back John Brooks, who scored the winning goal—was a player few thought had a chance of even making the World Cup roster after a weak performance against Ukraine in March.

Tonight’s game began furiously, with the U.S. applying pressure from the sound of the opening whistle and scoring a goal inside the first minute. The goal was stunning for its swiftness and quality. U.S. fullback DaMarcus Beasley—active and effective all game—sent a short pass up the U.S. left sideline to Jermaine Jones, who played a one-time square ball to Clint Dempsey, himself making a run towards goal about ten yards from Jones. The individual effort that followed could only have been produced by a world-class player at the height of his form. Dempsey’s first touch combined instinct, technical ability, and timing. He waited, let the ball run by and behind him, then sliced it forward with a scissoring touch, attacked and blew by a flat-footed defender, played the ball onto his left foot, and finally hit a low shot past the keeper that glanced off the far post and into the net.

It’s no shame to say that the U.S. would not rise to these heights again in this game. But it should be noted that Ghana controlled much of the next 80 minutes or so, thwarted less by effective U.S. defending than by an at-times bewildering inability to play a quality final ball into the box. Ghana settled down in the second half, and their goal—scored in the 82^nd minute—came as no surprise. It resulted from some deft combination play that included a back-heel assist in the box by Asamoah Gyan. (Gyan, U.S. fans will remember, scored the brilliant goal that eliminated the Yanks from the 2010 World Cup.) André Ayew’s slashing outside-of-the-left-foot strike beat Tim Howard near post.

By this time, both sides looked spent. This is usually an indication that at least one more goal is in a game, courtesy of tired bodies and minds and subsequent lax defending. The only question, of course, was which team would score. As is often the case, the seemingly inevitable game-winner came off a set piece, this one a corner kick by U.S. substitute winger Graham Zusi.

Perhaps because Ghana beat the U.S. in the previous two World Cups, I’d recalled their players as large, muscled individuals fully capable of matching their corn-fed U.S. counterparts. But tonight, the U.S. players appeared to me noticeably larger and more powerful than the Ghanaians, and never more so than on the winning goal. Brooks left the smaller, slighter Ghana defender John Boye trotting ineffectually in his wake as he ran onto Zusi’s cross and headed it down into the ground and from there into the net. The goal didn’t have the cathartic quality of Landon Donovan’s 2010 stoppage time winner against Algeria, of course, because for one thing Brooks’s goal didn’t put the U.S. through to the next round. But depending on how this tournament unfolds for the U.S., its fans may remember Brooks’s goal for years to come.

Aside from that goal and the critical three points it secured, the story of this game lay in injuries to U.S. players. After a promising two-goal performance against Nigeria, U.S. forward Jozy Altidore went down in the 21^st minute clutching his hamstring and had to leave the game. Center back Matt Besler, about as durable a U.S. player as there’s been in recent years, came off at halftime, apparently also due to hamstring problems. I noticed Alejandro Bedoya and Geoff Cameron stretching and/or massaging their own hamstrings during this game.

It’s speculation, of course, but anyone familiar with Klinsmann’s emphasis on fitness training must be wondering if this U.S. team has been trained too hard and not given sufficient time to recover after games and practices. This problem, or potential problem, in turn recalls the Klinsmann saga involving Donovan. Donovan, it will be remembered, claimed he needed rest after the 2012 MLS season and took the hiatus that apparently so perplexed and infuriated Klinsmann, who for all of his progressive ways and supposed optimism has some old-school, Parris-Island like views on physical fitness training. With the U.S. victory over Ghana, Klinsmann’s practices have been vindicated, at least for now. But the World Cup is a long tournament, and the final verdict is a couple of games off at least.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Nigeria, Jacksonville, Florida, 6.7.14

The U.S.’s third and final game of the so-called World Cup Send-Off Series could not have gone better for the Americans: The U.S. won; Jozy Altidore ended his scoring drought; the much-fretted-over back line played well; and the final 2-1 score line, which included a late penalty-kick goal from Nigeria, was close enough to discourage any complacency that might beset U.S. players after three straight wins.

The most impressive, even revelatory aspect of this game was the obvious technical superiority of the U.S. team over the reigning African champions. The final score actually flattered the Nigerians. Something like 3-0 would have better reflected the run of play, which was uniformly dominated by the U.S. It is easy to talk about playing proactive soccer, and nearly as easy for a team like the U.S. to play proactive soccer against a team like Azerbaijan. It’s another thing to effectively take the game to a quality team like Nigeria, and that’s just what the Yanks did yesterday.

Klinsmann deserves credit for making adjustments after the U.S.’s mostly poor defensive outing against Turkey, which ended in the same 2-1 score. But in that instance, the score line flattered the U.S. Against Nigeria, Klinsmann changed personnel and tactics, using two defensive midfielders and starting Kyle Beckerman alongside Jermaine Jones. These changes allowed U.S. fullbacks to make their attacking runs with less exposure in the back. As Klinsmann observed after yesterday’s match: “Obviously the Turkey game was a lot more open because we left too much space open. So we worked on it the last few days, we explained a lot on the whiteboard as well, and I think [the players] took it really well. They had the right focus, and it wasn’t difficult for them to open things up again.”

Speaking of defense, I should have mentioned in my last post that while the U.S. back four left Turkey attackers too much time and space, they did deserve credit for collecting themselves in the box and clogging shooting and passing lanes. Against Nigeria, the U.S. back four were even harder to break down in the box, and the starting back four—with Fabian Johnson and DaMarcus Beasley on the outside and Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler in the center—should after this performance start against Ghana in Brazil. Beasley was typically solid, his work in the 13^th minute to snuff a Nigeria buildup and draw a foul in the U.S. box being characteristic. Cameron was particularly strong in the center, blocking and otherwise preventing multiple crosses throughout the game. Besler played well too, though his clumsy challenge in the 85^th minute led to Nigeria’s penalty-kick goal and had Tim Howard pointing at his head in frustration.

Fabian Johnson, though, continues to be the U.S. back line’s brightest story. His assist on Jozy Altidore’s first goal came off a perfectly timed run in the box. The buildup—especially Alejandro Bedoya’s quick cut-back and pass to Johnson—repays multiple viewings. (As does the U.S.’s second goal, which saw Altidore run on to a Michael Bradley chip, cut the ball back to his right foot, and lash home a screamer.) Most importantly, Johnson looks good on both ends of the field, not just on the attack, and at least once against the Super Eagles he recovered after initially getting beaten. Whether Johnson’s current form and effective attacking play will carry over to group play will be something U.S. fans will watch for.

While the U.S. performance against Nigeria bodes well for the team in Brazil, and likely has heightened the concern of Ghana’s coaches, longtime soccer fans know that it’s folly to draw firm conclusions after a single performance. The U.S.’s dominating performance did I think reflect that the national team has progressed significantly in the last couple of decades. And nearly everyone agrees that this is the deepest, most technically accomplished roster ever assembled by the U.S., with Bradley, Dempsey, Altidore, Howard, and now Johnson leading the group. It should also go without saying that the U.S. is not yet among the soccer elite. Klinsmann himself was quoted in today’s New York Times Magazine as saying, “We cannot win this World Cup, because we are not at that level yet.”

Another article in today’s Magazine inadvertently supported Klinsmann’s assessment and put the U.S.’s current national team program in perspective. That article is on Lionel Messi, Argentina’s transcendent forward who is enduring his own kind of scoring slump. When a top U.S. forward endures a scoring slump, it still calls to mind not just droughts but desiccated riverbeds dotted with sun-bleached animal carcasses as far as the eye can see. Before yesterday’s two-goal performance, Altidore had gone six months without scoring a goal for club and country. Messi, by contrast and after scoring 91 goals in 69 games for club and country in 2012, had a paltry 41 goals in 44 appearances for Barcelona last season.

Of course, few countries have produced a soccer talent on a par with Messi, so the comparison is probably gratuitous. In some important ways, it’s a great time to be a U.S. soccer fan. After going from 1950 to 1990 without so much as qualifying for a World Cup, the U.S. team is now the cream of our sometimes underestimated and always fascinating FIFA confederation, and the U.S. is by most accounts a side no other national team wants to face.

Furthermore, U.S. fans don’t have the psychic burden of expectations at the heart of the New York Times article on Messi, the idea that the national team must “win it all” or agonies will be suffered. For U.S. fans, watching World Cup matches involving our boys will continue to be pleasantly nervy experiences, not cause for suicidal ideation, let alone suicide. And when this U.S. team is eliminated as Klinsmann predicts, we can all get on with the business of choosing our second team—Messi’s Argentina, or host-country Brazil, or reigning champ Spain, or even Klinsmann’s Germany—and cheering them on without the bilious feeling that “that should have been us.” I wonder if U.S. fans will have that feeling and those high expectations in my lifetime, and if on balance that would be a good thing.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Turkey, Harrison, New Jersey, 6.1.14

The U.S. back line continues to look and perhaps still be unsettled with the World Cup just two weeks off. Against Turkey, Fabian Johnson and Tim Chandler started at right and left back respectively, with Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler in the center. (DaMarcus Beasley started at left back against Azerbaijan last week.) Johnson was the strongest of the bunch. His give and go with Michael Bradley—culminating in Johnson’s powerful, flawlessly timed strike of Bradley’s chipped pass—is the kind of sequence that gave rise to the term “beautiful game” and keeps most of us watching soccer. As for Chandler, he too had a hand in the U.S.’s scoring. His cross from the corner flag early in the second half was misplayed by Turkey’s Haken Balta and set up Clint Dempsey’s tap-in goal.

Those goals of course ultimately gave the U.S. its 2-1 victory. But they shouldn’t distract us from the facts. Dempsey’s goal was a gift and the primary task of a defender is to defend, not to attack. Despite the final score, Turkey players found plenty of time space against the U.S. back line, creating numerous chances they mostly failed to take. Nuri Sahin’s 12^th-minute shot that hit the post is but one example, and Turkey had 23 shots to the U.S.’s 8.

Probably the two most troubling U.S. defensive breakdowns involved Chandler. One occurred in the 60^th minute, when Turkey’s left back switched the field of play with a looping pass to a wide-open Gokhan Gonul. Chandler and left winger Brad Davis were virtually out of the picture when Gonul ran onto the ball, and they could not recover in time to prevent his near-post shot (saved by substitute U.S. keeper Brad Guzan). Chandler was again caught out in the 89^th minute. He carelessly dwelled on the ball in his own half, was dispossessed by Mustafa Pektemek, and then beaten down the U.S. left sideline. Pektemek was initially held up by Guzan, but patiently retreated, teed up a shot, and earned a penalty kick when Cameron stopped the shot using his arm. (Presumably, the fact that the game was a friendly saved Cameron from getting sent off.) So Chandler’s breakdown led to Turkey’s only goal of the night, though as I say there could have been more.

Both of the above breakdowns recalled Chandler’s wind-sucking performance against Honduras in last February’s CONCACAF qualifier, played out in the heat and humidity of San Pedro Sula. Many thought Chandler wouldn’t recover from that performance, and indeed he didn’t participate in another U.S. match until last Tuesday. But Klinsmann clearly likes his German-American players, and five of them are going to Brazil. Speaking of which: For all those who say Landon Donovan sealed his fate by taking time off during three qualifiers—that his break signaled a lack of commitment that could not be forgiven by Klinsmann—then what are we to make of Chandler’s inclusion in the final roster? It is now a largely forgotten fact that Chandler twice turned down U.S. call-ups during this World Cup cycle, once for the 2011 Gold Cup because, as Chandler said, he was “tired,” and once for a round of World Cup qualifiers in 2012 because, as Klinsmann explained it, Chandler needed “to take a break.” Should Donovan’s bridge to Klinsmann and national team selection have been burned by his desire to take a break, but not Chandler’s?

Academic questions aside, it will be fascinating to see who starts at left back for the U.S. in Brazil. Given Beasley’s solid performances at left back during this cycle—and the U.S.’s excellent record with Beasley in the lineup—I regard him as the clear choice, especially since Chandler wilted in the Central American heat last February. And Beasley, who plays club soccer in Mexico, is accustomed to the kind of heat the U.S. will endure in Brazil. More importantly, Beasley in a U.S. shirt has consistently proved himself to be the superior defender. But while in qualifying Klinsmann may have relied on mostly MLS and Liga MX players like Beasley and the recently cut Eddie Johnson, he will in Brazil rely on a higher percentage of European-bred and -based players like Johnson and Chandler.

Not long after taking the U.S. coaching job, Klinsmann hinted that he wanted U.S. soccer to be more reflective of the United States as a whole: “I think the U.S. is a nation that wants to always be No. 1 in the world. It’s the leader in so many areas, and in a certain way you’re almost forced to be proactive in your approach to how you do things. They’re not waiting always until the other countries do something. They just do it.”

I am not sure if Klinsmann is succeeding in making U.S. soccer more successful or more reflective of U.S. “leadership” in other areas. His excellent record of wins and losses makes a strong case that he is improving the program. But if he picks Chandler over Beasley to start in Brazil, it will be another instance of Klinsmann breaking a cardinal rule of American sport and, you could argue, a cardinal rule of U.S. culture in general. That rule is: You dance with the one that brung ya.