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.