Well, the U.S. made it as far as I expected from them at this World Cup. Anything farther would have been a bonus. I'm proud of what they've done and how they showed resiliency to recover from being consistently behind. Unfortunately, that tendency to play from behind, along with an inexplicable habit of giving away goals in the first 5 minutes of games, led to their downfall. If they don't concede that early goal, they game would have been very different. I'm not sure if the U.S. would have won, though. Ghana had so much speed, and we didn't have the central defenders to match. Once the game reached extra time, we looked tired. Having to play from behind constantly will wear a team out, and the team looked tired as they played out the final minutes.
It was a great run by this U.S. team. It will be interesting to see what sort of team we assemble in 4 years. Several of the players on this year's team will be gone, and it will be hard to replace them. The biggest challenges, in my mind, are solidifying the defense and finding a consistently 2nd center midfielder to complement Bradley. We'll see what happens. Either way, this year's team gave us an enjoyable experience.
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