USA-Germany Wrap: Staying In Game Key Among Five Things We Learn From Win

With its back pinned against the wall, the United States men’s national soccer team fought its way out of danger and knocked out the reigning world champion.

Team USA beat Germany 2-1 on Wednesday in a high-profile exhibition game that will boost confidence and expectations ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup — the United States’ most important games in 2015.

Mix Diskerud and Bobby Wood scored the goals, which overturned the early lead Mario Gotze gave Germany. Diskerud’s and Wood’s strikes highlighted Team USA’s impressive comeback both on balance of play and on the scoreboard.

Germany dominated the opening stanza, as debutant Patrick Hermann and Gotze ran riot on the wings, and Bastian Schweinsteiger and Iİkay Gundogan controlled the game from the center of midfield. Gotze finished one of Germany’s many early scoring chances in the 12th minute.

Bad luck and U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan conspired to limit Germany to the solitary goal before the United States decided to play the world’s game and Team USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann would have them do that rather than sit in a bunker and wait for the inevitable death blow. Diskerud’s 44th-minute, karate-kick goal ended a sequence in which Team USA strung together 30 passes — an astonishing total.

Klinsmann’s substitutions added experience and gave his team fresh impetus in the second half. Those of his counterpart Joachim Low sapped Germany of its drive. Team USA seized the initiative, held it and earned its just rewards for staying in the game when things were going against it and delivering an impressive performance in the second half.

Here are some other things we learned in Team USA’s famous win over Germany.

Bradley belongs
Michael Bradley led Team USA’s charge from his home in central midfield. Bradley assisted Diskerud’s goal with a pinpoint pass and dictated the game’s tempo during the second half. Bradley, 27, is Team USA’s best, and most important player and that will remain the case through the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Bradley showed he can out-compete some of Germany’s top talent. Expect him to do the same against regional opposition.

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Fortune favors the young and brave
Team USA’s starting forwards Juan Agudelo and Aaron Johannsson received little service in the first half and did little with the ball when it came their way. The 73rd-minute introductions of Wood and Jordan Morris added cutting edge to Team USA’s attack, as Morris missed a goal by inches with his first touch and Wood’s first shot surprised everyone, including Germany goalkeeper Zeiler. Wood, 22, and Morris, 20, mean business as they try to secure spots on Team USA’s Gold Cup roster.

MLS is working
Klinsmann criticized MLS’ effect on his team earlier this year, but domestic-based players were some of his best against Germany. In the second half, Bradley and Kyle Beckerman controlled the game in the midfield, while Brad Evans and DeAndre Yedlin (who joined Tottenham in January but saw scant action in the Premier League) nullified the constant threat Germany posed to its right flank.

Team USA’s focus and fitness were at high levels — a testament to its players’ form in the middle of the MLS season.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves
This wasn’t Germany’s World Cup winning team, as 10 of the 11 starters in the final against Argentina didn’t appear against the United States. Low experimented with tactics and personnel against Team USA, as he has done in most non-Euro 2016 qualifiers.

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But Team USA showed against the Netherlands and Germany it’s ready to play, and win, every time it takes the field. Competition for places is high, as is confidnence in Klinsmann’s camp. He wouldn’t have it any other way less than a month before the must-win regional championship begins.