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Video: Klinsmann discusses crucial match vs. Germany

Jurgen Klinsmann

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  1. I am a U.S. fan but bro I just want them to play like Mexico tomorrow. Show some heart like they did against Brazil!!

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  2. I agree with Alex H. This game has a high likelihood of ending 0-0. Why would either team risk playing too aggressively, when a loss could spell absolute disaster for the US, and a loss for Germany could cost them 1st place in the group? Germany would much rather play Algeria or Russia in the 2nd round than Belgium. Both sides have come out and said they will not play for a tie, but one has to wonder. However, the US could really have it’s sites set on beating Germany to avoid Belgium in the 2nd round…we’ll see.

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    • Highly unlikely to end 0-0. Neither team play that style naturally (both orchestrated by the same guy: JK), nor have the right talent in the right places to make it happen. We tried to bunker against Ghana, and fortunately they aren’t “clinical” crossers or finishers otherwise the match would have been tied up, or worse, much much earlier. Germany meanwhile has played fullbacks borrowed from other spots, with Boateng looking out of place and Howedes a weak link against Ghana. Plus Lahm and Khedira haven’t looked great in holding roles. And we haven’t shown the middle-third passing accuracy to hold it for long stretches, particularly will be tough with the likes of Muller or Ozil buzzing around.

      So despite how positive a draw will be for us, even I’ll be suspicious with 0-0 unless there are enough masterful saves on both sides.

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  3. USA got this! i’ve been feeling pretty down but good vibes are starting to arrive for some reason!

    futbolisimo’s opinion is his opinion, relax. he’s not entirely wrong but at the same time, our soccer IQ has absolutely grown. it’s why we’ve survived while technically/tactically, we still lag a bit behind the big teams. the state of US soccer is just fine and is most certainly and very clearly better than in 2002, overall.

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  4. I am still betting that this is going to be Anschluss 2.0. Jogi is going to put Klose in as the lone striker and play a “counterattacking” style to preserve the group and our players are going to “start defensively” for the first 20 minutes and then pack it in claiming “fatigue”. Game’s going to end 0-0 with lots time wasting due to “cramping” of players. It won’t be quite as brazen as 1982 but it is going to happen nonetheless.

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    • Plenty of other examples of this. The 2-1 Spain-Chile result in 2010 that guaranteed both of them went through. The 2-2 Sweden-Denmark draw in Euro 2004 that eliminated Italy. And of course the Argentina-Peru matchup in 1978 which is the reason we have simultaneous kickoffs for the last group matches.

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      • I thought simultaneous kickoffs was because of 1982 FRG-AUT. West Germany and Austria knew what result would get them both through because Algeria and Chile (?) had already played.

      • I think both actually contributed to the simultaneous play rule. Although the 1978 affair was far worse because it involved government collusion, bribery and if the stories are true, repatriation by the Argentine dictator of Peruvian exiles who were then imprisoned, tortured, killed etc. by the Peruvian dictator. Henry Kissinger was involved as well. I don’t know how much of this to believe but nothing would surprise me in soccer.

    • I’m just afraid that one of our players will get too complacent and just leave the goal undefended, leaving the German player embarrassed about not taking a shot, and so he’ll end up taking it and zing! All it takes is another messed-up clearance like at the beginning of the Portugal game.

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  5. We’ve played well I think, far better than in 2002 absent that Germany game. In fact, Portugal reminded me a lot of the 2002 Germany game. It’s one of the few times in our history where we really creatively challenged a good team. But it must be acknowledged that in 2002 we lucked out with our group results falling like they did and by far our easiest matchup in elimination rounds in modern history. All credit to Mexico’s play in this tournament so far but they’ve still played the worst team in the tournament, a pretty mediocre European side, and a Brazilian team that has looked shaky. We really don’t know how good Mexico or the USA is yet, but I think it’s fair to say the US played much more creative attacking football against Portugal than they did in 2006 or 2010.

    If Herrera has not been fired yet, Gold Cup next year will be fun to watch.

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    • i think you are right about not going overboard about Mexico, but disagree with some of your reasoning.

      to me, they deserved to win 3-0 over Cameroon and absolutely dominated what has turned out to be a truly terrible team. so, good on them for doing what we all would expect of Mexico to do to a team that bad. if Cameroon wasn’t so bad and if Ghana was not so good, the USA and Mexico groups would be pretty even.

      against Brazil, they did play pretty well but without Ochoa making amazing saves, they lose that game by multiple goals. they had some chances as well, but nothing consistent or constant. they were on the back foot for much of that game and relied on the heroics of Ochoa (very USA-like).

      for Croatia, i disagree they are a mediocre team. that was a strong Croatian team. to me, the way they handled Croatia was very impressive and shows me more about Mexico than the other two games. i also think it’ll set them up nicely for the Netherlands. but if they play the way they did against Brazil, i don’t see Ochoa holding off that many dangerous chances again. not with Robben so deadly at the moment.

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  6. Ghana will not crush Portugal. That 4-0 pasting by Germany felt more like a 2-1 win to me. Germany is not a soccer-god. I can bet you that ever since Klinsmann saw what group the US had drawn, he has been meticulously planning and preparing for this day. The US will be extremely well prepared, they will be much fitter than the Germans, their spirits will be high, and they will win.

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    • I agree, with the only wrinkle being the one JK mentioned post-Portugal game. We played in the jungle 4 days ago, they played in a resort 5 days ago. Hopefully, after we let an early goal in, we can equalize, and both teams can be satisfied with 1-1 result. At that point, I would sub out Dempsey and Zusi and sub in both Guzan and Rimando to play in front of Timmy.

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    • US sliced open Portugal’s midfield and defense more thoroughly than Germany did. All four of Germany’s goals were opportunistic – better clearances by Portugal defenders and GK take two of Muller’s goals away, plus one PK and one corner kick. Germany did defend Portugal extremely well. The biggest difference in the scores was in isolated mistakes. Germany didn’t make any, US had two enormous brain freezes one early and one late. That is the real challenge for the US tomorrow, avoid the Big Mistake. Otherwise I’m pretty confident matching up.

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      • “That is the real challenge for the US tomorrow, avoid the Big Mistake.”

        This right here. This is the bottom line.

    • I think we’ll have a pretty good, conservative game plan in place, will stay compact and organized…. what concerns me w/ Germany is corners/set pieces. Germany are quite good at them, tall. Howard has a tendency to stay back in his net. (One area where I think Guzan is superior.)

      It will be interesting to see how the match plays out as both teams may well be looking to counter each other. Could be like a boxing match with 2 counterpunchers dancing in the middle of the ring waiting for the other to strike first.

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    • Disagree with “much fitter.” Where do you think he brought his training regimen from? It don’t look like it came from Muscle Beach!

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  7. Interesting statistical analysis in advance of the USA v. Germany match:

    1. Since France 1998,…90% of teams that lose their first group stage game do not advance to the knock-out round of 16.

    2. In Brazil 2014,…14 teams lost their opening group stage match. Which means,…if the historical trend holds,…1.4 teams,…or 1 or 2 teams will advance to the knock-out stage after having lost their opening game.

    3. As of yesterday, two teams that lost their opening match advanced to the knockout stage. They are Uruguay and Greece. Nine teams have been eliminated. They are Croatia, Cameroon, Spain, Australia, England, Japan, Ecuador, Honduras and Bosnia.

    4. Three teams still have a chance to advance,…Algeria, Ghana and Portugal.

    So,…if the historical trend holds,…Algeria, Ghana and Portugal will all fail to advance to the knock-out stage because two teams have already ‘bucked’ the trend. Algeria have their fate in their own hands and can advance if they draw Russia or win against Russia. Portugal and Ghana do not control their own destiny as they are at the mercy of the result from Germany and USA match. If Algeria do the business, that would mean that three teams ‘bucked’ the trend and more than doubled the historical odds.

    The point of all of this? At least, the USA has historical odds on their side tomorrow. Would love to know the stats on teams advancing under these circumstances when they don’t control their own destiny.

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      • I only read a portion of that to be fair, but I think he just said it is statistically IMPOSSIBLE for Ghana or Portugal to go through since they both lost their opening match and this tournament’s allotted slots for 1st-game-losers are already taken up. So sleep well tonight, for tomorrow we move on to the round of 16!

        I believe!

    • I think you do not really understand statistics. Past results have no real effect on future results except in a world where magic exists.

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    • Historically, a coin flipped 10 times will land on heads approximately 5 times.

      You flip a coin 8 times, it has landed on heads 3 times, and tails 5 times.

      What are the odds the last two flips will both be heads?

      By your logic, 100%. In actuality, 25%.

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      • Whoa! Not cool! Using my username to post something non-sensical! Show your face coward!

        – the Real Futbolisimo

    • + 1

      I tend not to hit so hard on posts but it’s the laced cynicism of the underhanded complement supported by weak analysis and false analogies that just really gets me. None of the groups, nor the consitions are the same – but folks tend to use some weak “all things are equal” position and then spew incredible nonsense.

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      • True, I thought they kept all the trolls at Goal.com. I guess we come out of the woodwork around World Cup time.

      • Whoa! Not cool! Using my username to post something non-sensical! Show your face coward!

        – the Real Futbolisimo

    • +2 The biggest problem is Expat the Weerdoh. She dominates the discussions, accounts for a high percentage of posts under various user names on most threads. Could she be addicted? Or maybe it’s her job. A paid tr*l-lahlah. haha.

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    • Nice. Thanks for posting. I read over at Soccer America that Bradley has covered the 2nd most amount of turf at the tournament out of all players. In some way, I wonder if this sheds a little light on his relatively sub-par distributive performances.

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      • Yeah, his bad passes/effort was due to being dead tired. When you’re that tired on your feet, your touch is awful.

      • Yeah, but… your comment begs the question, why is he tired? I mean, come on, they’re pros.

      • Hmmm… but they get more tired (than usually speaking) when they are covering turf for their less-skilled and qualified mates 😉

    • If I read that correctly, MB had zero passes to FJ. Interesting, in that FJ was clearly our danger man going forward. To be successful against Germany, you’d love to see MB get FJ the ball in advanced locations on multiple occasions.

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  8. Folks who think we haven’t grown since 02 will have a hard time being convinced of anything I might have to say, but in tourney hype aside, we are exactly where we expected we would be given out place in the group of death. On 4 points with a chance to advance on our terms. The speed of play style of play tactical flexibility and technical ability has grown exponentially. Moreover, the team hasn’t played a 100% clean game yet and is missing the striker it had built it’s offense around. All in all there is a lot to react to day to day, but not much to be dissatisfied with in the long view.

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    • So much just bounced the right way for that 02 team. People kind of skip the part where with advancement in there own hands they lost badly to a Poland side with nothing to play for.

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      • I recall not losing too much sleep over the Poland loss. And yes luck played a part as, it seems, it does almost always with teams who succeed. What’s the idiom? ‘You make your own luck.’

        This said, the thing that distinguished the ’02 from other incarnations in recent years was a very strong midfield and a couple key players with an an extremely high soccer IQ, so to speak. Aside from Donovan, I don’t think we’ve had any players come close to John O’brien and C. Reyna in terms of distributive inventiveness, ability to control the tempo of the game, and relieve pressure at pivotal moments. Next to Donovan, these are my favorite U.S. players.

      • Well everyone was just happy to get through the group but you really can’t count on getting that kind of a break.

      • Tab Ramos, but he rarely controlled a game–just had inventiveness, pressure relief, and distribution ability to spare.

      • That team went the furthest but I don’t think that means they were the best team we’ve had. I think this squad and 2010 were better. 2010 had more experience but I think the overall upside within this squad is the best we’ve ever had.

    • You lost me at “tourney hype aside….in the group of death.” There were several difficult groups and it will be hard to judge until everything is said and done. The groups where Spain, England and Italy bowed out of are so far the toughest groups. It we eliminate Germany on an off chance we win and Ghana wins a blowout, then our group can be considered in their league. But definitely not a group of death.

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  9. Dang! While I wish you were wrong (about the US), your CONCACAF analysis is spot-on. Costa Rica and Mexico have been tops. The Ochoa magic show has been very entertaining to watch!
    As a Seattle resident, I’d love to see more Yedlin, but I’m biased 🙂

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    • Cheers. And keep your bias on Yedlin. The U.S. needs it. Hate to toot my vuvuzela, but I’v been screamin’ for a year to get him some qualifying experience so we can have him somewhat prepared for the Cup!

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  10. If I were king for a day, I’d slot Yedlin in for Bedoya. He’ll be a little bit of a mess for 10 minutes or so, but he’ll sort it out and effectively start employing his insane pace and energy. It’s important that Johnson is behind him.

    Re subs, I’d lean on the German contingent – Brooks (when Besler’s tweaked hamstring packs it up for the day) and Chandler (whom I’d be confident coming into the midfield and pushing forward or sitting tight depending on the circumstances). These two have got to be hungry as heck for this game. Not including Green here. He’d get eaten alive. Maybe Bedoya could make an entrance?

    CONCACAF 1st-Round Analysis:

    – Costa Rica has by far been the best team in the tournament from our burgeoning region. Attractive, attacking, very intelligence soccer.

    – Honduras’ game plan can only been perceived as cynical. Their exit feels well warranted.

    – Mexico, I love you, but Costa Rica still takes the cake on over-all quality of play. If Mr. Evil Marquez keeps it together, I see them maybe getting to the semi’s.

    – The U.S? Still feels like same-ole-same-ole. Lots of ‘hard work’ masking the lack of intelligent, inventful futbol. They got away with murder and some kind of cosmic luck against Ghana. They deserved entirely not to win against Portugal. I got to say: nothing’s really changed in American futbol since 2002. We are still a profoundly perpetual under-performing, ‘low IQ’, always-on-the-bubble futbol team for a nation of 300 million.

    Prediction: 4-2 Germany. After arriving from Manaus, the U.S. tank is going to show empty.

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    • I’d worry a bit that putting Yedlin in would really hurt our ability to keep the ball. On the other hand, I think energy levels on short rest may demand a little squad rotation, and Bedoya is a good candidate for a rest.

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      • Most definitely, and the more I think about it, in light of your comment, the more I think maybe more changes should be made simply in the aim of fresh legs. But yes, Yedlin could be ball-possession disaster but… could also pay off handsomely.

    • I tend to agree with this, minus the “I love you Mexico” part. Fvck them.

      US is going to find themselves depleted. We will get scored on early and fall behind by a few before we scrap a goal or two back. Ghana is going to crush Portugal so that will be that. Nothing to be ashamed of, but a simply lack of focus in the moment when we needed it most. Lots of positives to take away from this tournament. Our team has played like warriors and I expect them to do the same tomorrow.

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      • Oh come on, where’s the neighborly love? They’re our brothers from another mother. Really, we may have their number in CONCACAF showdowns, but you got to respect your enemy and admit they’re still a better futboling nation in the humid, hot sunlight of Brazil.

      • Well, we are not out of the competition yet. So how would we determine that Mexico has been better? Talk Shi* after game 3.

      • You must have missed this tiresome troll’s endless postings under multiple names about how awesome Mexico is and how terrible the US is, all while pretending to be a USMNT supporter. He’s new to this site since the world cup started but he posts about 900 times a day now. Hopefully he’ll go away after.

      • Nope, homey, futbolisimo is futbolisimo. Been posting for years now. I’m a gringo and love American futbol, but I equally know where we stand in world soccer. So no point in living in a fantasy like a lot of other posters.

      • I think what you meant to say instead of “I know where we stand” is “I’m trying to throw a veil over my cynicism and/or am using self-defeatism as a preemptive defense mechanism for a possible disappointment against Germany.” Because if you really knew where we stood at a soccer nation, you’d recognize that we’re a country that is in position to win a “group of death,” a country who finished as runners up in a confederation cup, a country who is consistently in the top 20 rankings (for what that’s worth, I guess) and a country who barring a catastrophe tomorrow, will have advanced to the knock out rounds in 3 of the last 4 World Cups. Yeah, yeah, Mexico made it out in all 4 of those same world cups, but we put them out of one of them, so take that for what it’s worth. I think it’s stupid to act like we aren’t every bit as a good a soccer nation as Mexico. Also, no gringo ever says “homey.”

      • I’m as pasty white as your grandma’s…

        Really, pound for pound, international tournament for international tournament, we, the U.S., are not on par with Mexico, as much as it pains me to say it, dawg.

      • I had a dream last night that Greena played against Germany and he was giving the German defenders all sorts of trouble. 🙂 I think he will get some action tomorrow.

      • The problem with the US is no longer talent it’s self belief and soccer IQ. They had to get scored first for them to realize that they are better than Portugal

      • It’s a good point. Getting scored on allowed them to play proactively and realize that Portugal wasn’t so good after all.

      • We have to come out and play aggressive and proactive from the start. But I fear we will be playing bunkered in, which usually leads to the other team scoring on us.

      • You’d think people would hesitate to pronounce their defeatism after being so roundly disproved up to this point…

    • US may lose to Germany, but all that middling nation, low IQ stuff… well, that’s your opinion, but it seems baseless given our performance in this tough group. Empty tanks and psychology could certainly be issues though. Germany is good.

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      • I don’t know brother… squeezing out a couple results in a W.C. group stage repeatedly over 14 odd years (none in ’06) doesn’t really make the U.S. anything other than what it is: a very average and unimaginative squad.

        I think, almost hands down, the ’02 W.C.quarterfinal squad was way more talented, imaginative and fresh than the squads that have come thereafter.

      • So predictable, Mexico gets out of the group stage and begin to chirp instantaneously . I would prefer if you just said thank you and went on your way.

      • Or a pick up a good and stand at a post, either way I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to.

      • Yeah, well, I guess your tactics might be a little different if you were playing in the first group in history to contain teams that had all progressed out of the group stage in the prior World Cup and also contain two top five teams within it.

        Frankly, I don’t rate your analysis at all.

      • Wow, as if your apparently unironic, repeated use of “futbol” alone weren’t enough to negate basically everything you say already, this comment fully outs you as someone who has no idea what he’s talking about. Or, in fairness, you may just be blind, in which case I apologize.

      • low IQ charge come have applied to game one vs Ghana-that was hideously conservative, a definite step backwards. Ghana is not Spain of 2009 Confed Cup.

        But vs Portugal US played closer to the possession-driven ideal seen vs Mexico than the bunker ball vs Ghana.

        There aren’t as many players on the field who “don’t get it”, but some don’t have the consistency to execute-Bedoya-how many terrible crosses has he sent in without any pressure on him vs Ghana and Portugal?

    • I don’t know how you can applaud Mexico when they got the most cupcake group of them all. I can’t judge their play based off of one game against quality competition (Brazil).

      I don’t think the Germans will hang 4 on us. Germany will play it safe and not go all out in this one. No reason to risk injury when you are safely through. I think we come away with a draw in that game, and I think Portugal beats Ghana. If anybody shows up to the game depleted, it will be the Ghanaians with that frenetic up and down play that they have been employing over the past 2 games.

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      • Interesting, I never really felt any Group A to be a lightweight party. Cameroon? Sure they’re not as strong as Ghana or Ivory Cost. But how about Croatia? Yes, they didn’t play, in my opinion, up to potential (speaking reasonably) but half the starters are Champions League players, if I’m not mistaken.

        As a futbol nut, I like Mexico. The U.S. can learn a ton from them and then beat them, again, again, and again by muchisimo mas goals!

      • Potential is one thing – but that group came out and fell right on its face, hard.

        Even when the draw came out, everyone was shocked at the group USA got, and even more shocked at the group MEX got.

        MEX belonged in the group of death, USA deserved a more favorable draw than it got. The draw should certainly be better than any Costa Rica, Mexico, and Honduras gets – as USA is the King of CONCACAF as proven through Qualifying.

      • Qualifying first, second, third, or through a playoff doesn’t matter as long as you qualify. In the end, it’s what you do in the tournament that counts. Good draw, bad draw, whatever, once the World Cup comes around, no one cares nor remembers how teams qualified.

    • I can’t agree with your US analysis. The US has rarely looked better against a quality opponent over the course of 94.3 minutes than it did against Portugal. Dempsey and Jones have both scored world class goals against solid opponents. Bunkering against an opponent that hits hard on the counter, as Ghana can, is hardly an usual tactic, and it does say something that Ghana then got a result against Germany. Prediction, 1-1 under the circumstances. Niether team has an incentive to risk anything to score more goals after their first goal. If this were a knock out round, I’d expect Germany to win outright. But under these circumstances, Germany has the same incentive as the US to rest players and refill its tank if the result as in the 65th minute means that Germany wins the Group.

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    • you have said way too much here. Your conclusions are self-serving to your own beliefs. As much as we deserved to lose to Ghana, we certainly did enough to beat Portugal.

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      • Ok, one, isn’t that the point of making a comment? You articulate your sentiment and thoughts and then somebody else concurs and adds to it or somebody else disagrees and details why. No?

        Two, at the W.C. level, I think we didn’t do enough to beat Portugal. The result is absolutely fair. The U.S. totally screwed up by not compressing the playing field and sitting tight in the final minutes (after their 2nd goal). Portugal, with the precision of surgeon’s scalpel, punished the U.S. for this and kept themselves alive.

      • If you don’t think they played well enough to beat Portugal, you’re a clown, but beyond that: one, stop pretending you are a US fan, and 2: “deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” You can accuse the US of being “naive” and then talk about deserving wins. You don’t “deserve” anything. You win or you don’t.

      • Ahhhh….exactly?? Your post is completely incoherent. The U.S.-Portugal result is just and fitting (see previous posts), albeit, painful, I admit.

      • Just, fitting result…. how does one measure this? Soccer quite often feels unjust. One bad bounce, bad call, brain fart can erase lots of good work in an instant. Until the 94th minute of that match, the US looked the better team and for the majority watching (futbolismo included), looked the victor. But….. this wicked game being what it is… not to be.
        There is SOME truth to some of what you say, but you lose it with your need for extremism. More than anything, you sound like a fairly intelligent guy, with a semester of Spanish under his belt that thrives on pushing buttons and being a contrarian.

      • I think you’re somewhat on to me. But, at the same time, I do feel some heavy weight behind my comments. Been around the football block for about 30 years, with intense scrutiny as a player and observer.

        I think the U.S. game is mired in the middle class (a very complicated prob in many respects) and a pro ‘system’ that has been developmentally arrested for too long at this point (think relegation).

        A brief comment. I’d give my left foot for the U.S. to develop a player like Suarez who then takes a chomp out of an Italian defender. (I’m speaking somewhat figuratively. Somewhat.)

        The U.S. mentality is way too polite (this inhibits it’s collective futboling ingenuity and inventiveness, so to speak). I’m not the only to say this. Klinsmann himself has said this.

      • One other note. You gotta remember that the final Portugal was, effectively, very easy to defend against; it was not necessarily the product of some kind of world class magic. The U.S. failed to do the simplest thing at this point in the game: sit tight, compress the field of play, and knock the ball upfield to Wondo when its repossessed. It was a bummer, but I have zero empathy for pros who blow this situation – and that’s for love of the U.S. game.

      • Never happens as quickly or as apparently as we’d like or many predict, but I think there is reason for optimism. A huge reason being a growing home league with development at the club level rather than under the blanket of US Soccer. Whatever one may think of it, hard to deny that MLS has come a long LONG way in the last 10 years. I look at the youth sides we are putting out now, and on the whole, there are a LOT more with true blue soccer IQ and the level of play advanced.

        I’d also add that CONCACAF is much improved. Not only at the top with MX, CR and the US, but tough games throughout. Panama, Jamaica. Shoot, Mexico went decades with lots of talent and little accountability, being able to coast through qualifying. They’ve had to up the ante in their development, and have. Being taken to task and struggling in qualifying served them as well…. humbled them and caused them to re evaluate, not take things for granted, work harder. They are a tougher side that deals with adversity better than they used to.

        Anyway…. sometimes hard to see it, but a stroll through 15 year old MLS and USMNT games on youtube helps. Memory sometimes deceives. Cheers.

    • I have a different view on the state of how the USMT plays today versus 2002. Back then is was unquestionably a “defend and counter” approach. Today it is more of a posession game and trying to control the midfield instead of putting numbers in the back. We have 4 goals in the tournament and 3 have come from natural play and 1 from a set piece. None from a direct counter attack. I think combination play is far improved and so is the creativity compared to years past. I personally like how they play now. To me it is far more exciting. Especially when you play a team with the same style. It opens up the field and allows more chances by both teams and usually the team with the better cumulative skill will win. I give a ton of credit to JK for pushing the players and not backing down to traditionally better teams. Tomorrows game against Germany will tell us a lot. Even if they loose I am very confident that our program is going in the right direction. There are a lot of players to really be excited about. I will be sad to see Beckerman not be a part of the team in 4 years in Russia. I love his approach to the game.

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    • @futbolisimo

      You don’t know enough about Germany if you actually think they will beat us 4-2.

      You also are naive to think we haven’t gotten better since 2002.

      Between those 2 facts, you have totally misjudged this game. This Germany team is mostly composed of Bayern players.This Bayern team has a history of taking it easy in Games they no longer need to win. If they score, they will be content to sit on that goal.
      They will be passive and likely allow us back in the game. They won’t even care.

      It’s very likely to be a draw. No one has any incentive to try for anything else. Belgium isn’t even that impressive.

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      • It’s pretty tough for me to imagine Joachim Löw letting his guys sit back with a cup of tea after scoring one goal. I have zero doubt that the Germans, like the Americans, will leave nothing to chance and aim to win the match. That said, the strategy will change towards the end of the match, depending on the score. If the teams are tied with 15 minutes left, I could envision both squads taking it ‘easy’. But, if either side is down, I’d say all bets are off for a wide open contest.

    • LOL at criticizing the USMNT’s performance against Portugal. Yes, it was such a lackluster performance…said no one ever, except you. You must have a special footballing mind to see what no one else did.

      What I saw was great possession, speed, abusing them on the flanks all game, good chances from near and far, and coming from behind against one of the most highly touted sides in the world coming into the World Cup — yep, sounds totally “same-ole-same-old.” Too funny.

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      • I didn’t say it was a “lackluster” performance. I said it was, effectively, an tactically amateurish mistake to allow the last goal. Klinsmann of course knew this but to comment on it publicly would be counter-productive. During the final moments of the game he was repeatedly screaming the more forward players get back and compress the field of play in the defensive half. He was literally how his hands in the air and making a compression-like movement bringing them together. That’s all, homey.

    • futbalisimo,
      I agree Yedlin, would be a good change of pace.
      also with Chandler, he certainly has a good feel for the German play.
      I do think if Green, is going to see the field and
      have any chance to make an impact, it would be
      against a team he is most inspired, familiar, and comfortable playing against.
      Perhaps this side offers that opportunity, if the situation arises?.

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      • Thanks for the thoughts. Seems like we have similar intuitions about changing things up. Klinmann seems pretty fresh. My hunch is he’s going to keep the 4-5-1 and make a few pivotal changes to address what’s the almost-inevitable exhaustion and different talents of Germany (compared to Portugal and Ghana).

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