Did you notice we actually shut out Brazil in the second half?
That's not a compliment – it's a miracle. As we saw with our long-suffering eyes, that was a serious chumpification in the Lands of the New Meadow.
PLAYER RATINGS: Brad Guzan can go back to Aston Villa with his head held high. Not that he'll know the guy in the seat next to him.
Apart from Guzan, though, it's pretty much ones and twos. And not in the Kicker sense. Was Kljestan a double agent? At least Robbie Findley has kept his World Cup form.
It's distressing and depressing seeing the home team treat the game like a cynical, Nike-motivated money grab, and the visiting team use it to lay the foundation for future tournaments.
It was a blown opportunity to win fans, unless there are a lot of fans out there waiting to support a team that can't be bothered to show up. Frontrunning Brazil fans hesitant about supporting their own country were given absolutely no reason to do so. At least when MLS teams play garbage friendlies, there's the pretense of trying to win over new fans.
Unless you think every yellow shirt in the stadium belonged to a lifelong, diehard Brazilian superfan who flew to New Jersey for the occasion.
But I don't think this was the missed opportunity to discover talent that John Harkes thought it was. Anyone who would have been discovered last night can also be discovered in October, or during qualifying, or even two weeks before the tournament.
And if Germany Jones hadn't backed off the call-up, there would have been two new capped players for the US, rather than just Omar Gonzalez. Besides, it's not like we have a Neymar just sitting around.
I think that's really what we saw last night. The guys who had roster spots, and those who probably don't have realistic shots at 2014 – they had no reason in particular to run around last night, and it showed. I was pretty much only interested in how Gonzalez looked.
Which was raw. We Galaxy fans are extremely noisy about how Omar Gonzalez is the next Eddie Pope, but he's obviously not ready to shut down Brazilian forwards like Pato. Of course, and stop me if I've told you this, but there's a word for defenders who can stop forwards like Pato – "millionaires." Give Omar time.
Although that's what I said after Lionel Messi rolled right by the Copa America defense, wasn't it? Hm, we might be in trouble.
But it was, from the American point of view, an unpleasant waste of a perfectly good Tuesday night. And it does seem like the reason Bob Bradley didn't put in a terribly forward-looking lineup was that he has no reason to look forward, at least as far as the US national team is concerned. This was not the lineup, or the approach, of someone looking to regain the Gold Cup.
…of course, someone trying to get hired by Aston Villa might have tried a little harder to beat Brazil. Although, how good a pregame speech would that have made? "Guys, I want to quit before I get fired. Now, get out there and play like you should have against Ghana!"
Don't get me wrong, I like Bob Bradley. But he didn't give the US the best chance to win in the World Cup. He started the wrong players, and put in the wrong subs. Since that was how he was going to be judged, he deserves to be let go.
Will that happen? Apparently not until a replacement is lined up. Fine – take your time, Sunil. Get the right guy. And keep in mind, true believers, we want a guy who will stick around for the four year cycle. In Europe and South America, they care about their continental competitions. Not that the Gold Cup isn't useful, but we're not going to pick a guy just to qualify for the Confederations Cup. Dream of people like Guus Hiddink of Jose Pekerman if you like, but even if we get them, their eyes will wander in a couple of years.
What about Klinsmann? I dunno. You'd think ESPN wouldn't put up a graphic comparing Klinsi with Maximum Bob for no reason…but I have a sinking suspicion the reason was message board chatter.
So, yay! We matter!
But the last thing the US needs is a misplaced sense of urgency. Put together a list of what we need, and find the guy that fits. Brazil has to worry about the Copa America, we don't.
Of course, it would be nice to worry about Copa America, but that's a different topic. (Besides, FIFA doesn't approve.)
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