USA v Portugal

Watching this game from the FIFA fan fest was great, there was a very strong American presence, all of whom went absolutely nuts for both goals.  Even the Brazilian fans were pro-USA, so it was a great atmosphere.

If you had told me that this game would end in a 2-2 draw beforehand, I would have been fine with it, but it felt much more like a loss.  Aside from going down a goal early on a shanked clearance from Cameron (who was otherwise strong), USA was excellent; most of the credit for a strong team performance should go to Jurgen Klinsmann.  USA's coaching staff got their tactics absolutely correct in this game.

USA played a 4-2-3-1, but with the wingers tucked inside.  By crowding the midfield, USA prevented Portugal's Moutinho from finding Ronaldo in space, and Ronaldo was dropping deep into central midfield, where he is comparatively harmless, to get the ball by the end of the game.  The central midfielders rotated smoothly, with at least one of Bradley, Beckerman, and Jones between the center backs at all times.  This shield was vital on defense, but also was the base for transitioning to offense.  The tucked wingers allowed both fullbacks to attack freely; in the first half alone USA repeated the same passing move and created a chance.  Deep midfielder to Zusi, Zusi through the right CB and RB to Johnson.  One of these should have been a goal, but Bradley couldn't convert.  While I doubt this exact game plan will work against Germany, it's very encouraging to see that USA isn't afraid to play different players in different positions.

USA probably should have run away with this game, given how well most of the team played, but they only reason they didn't was an extremely poor performance by the most important player on the team.  Jermaine Jones was a rock, and scored a goal-of-the-tournament nominee.  Beckerman, who I normally think is worse than useless, was strong on defense and linked play well with simple passes.  Howard was even more imperious than usual, as were both Cameron and Besler.  Fabian Johnson was USA's biggest offensive threat for the middle half of the game.  But Michael Bradley was abject.  He missed an easy goal created by Johnson, didn't link with Dempsey well, and was responsible for the turnover at the end of the game that led to the draw (JUST BOOT IT).  That's 2 games in a row where he has been poor, so he needs to get it together before Thursday, because USA can't afford to be anything less than excellent against Germany.