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.