USA, can Klinsmann's team surprise us?

ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: USA

The USA have improved markedly in every world cup they play in. They are no longer seen as the whipping boys of the competition that they might have been seen in the 90’s. They are a tough solid no nonsense unit, that can find goals when required. Under Jürgen Klinsmann they also have a manger who trains teams to attack at pace. Make no mistake this American team is good.

Its then very unfortunate that this strong USA team are also lumped in with Germany, Portugal and Ghana. As good as I think the USA are, I don’t think they can beat Germany or Portugal. I could be wrong but I wouldn’t bet on them getting out of the group.

As for their players, a lot was made for the exclusion of Landon Donovan. But I totally respect Klinsmann’s decision here. Donovan has done nothing on the world stage to justify his hype. He might be a big fish in the MLS, but in the last world cup he was fairly muted, and has never done anything of note with a European club. For a footballing decision it was an easy decision to make.

Other wise, most of the squad who performed well in the last world cup, Michael Bradley, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey, all have left European clubs since then to return to play for teams based in the MLS or Mexcio. This shows they couldn’t really hack it in Europe, or at a high level (excluding Dempsey). I would be concerned about this lack of European club experience from the heavy hitters of the american team.

But the USA do play a strong style of football. They rarely give away cheap possession, are strong physically, and can score goals. They are a good team and coming off some very impressive form maybe Klinsmann has a trick or two up his sleeve? But I am going for a first round exit.