3 Reasons to Believe U.S. Men Can Make a Run in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

Following a run in June which included four straight wins with a friendly victory over Germany and World Cup-qualifying wins over Jamaica, Panama and Honduras, expectations for the United States men’s national soccer team are again on the rise.

Here are three reasons to believe the U.S. can transform that solid form into a 2014 World Cup run in Brazil.

Jurgen Klinsmann Finally Seems to Be Getting His Feet Under Him

Early in his tenure, U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann was rightly criticized for making a series of befuddling decisions.

• He showed a preference towards players like Kyle Beckerman, who clearly underperformed.
• He tried to shoehorn three defensive midfielders into the lineup on multiple occasions.
• He was criticized for his overreliance on German-born players.
• He tried repeatedly to force Jozy Altidore into a system that provided him with little support up top.
• And, of course, he tried a bizarre off-balanced midfield formation against Honduras to open up hexagonal World Cup qualifying that failed miserably.

However, Klinsmann has recently been proven right on a number of gutsy decisions.

• He has trusted an inexperienced tandem in Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez to lock down the center of the U.S. defense—and done it in important World Cup qualifiers.
• He has given DaMarcus Beasley a second life with the USMNT, most improbably, as a left-back.
• He has shown faith in Major League Soccer players like Besler, Gonzalez, Graham Zusi, Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans. Evans, like Beasley, was used out-of-position with Evans being used as a right-back—and he rewarded his manager’s faith with a number of solid performances.

Klinsmann also used Geoff Cameron in the holding midfield position when Jermaine Jones went down hurt against Jamaica when most pundits were expecting Stuart Holden or Sacha Kljestan to be used. Not only did Cameron play against Jamaica as a substitute, Klinsmann started him against Panama four days later where Cameron played so well that many began calling for him to become the U.S.’ permanent No. 6.

One thing that many fans forget about Klinsmann is that despite his decorated playing career, he is still a relatively inexperienced coach.

Between his high-profile stints as head coach of the German national team and Bayern Munich, Klinsmann only had 63 matches in charge. Sixty-three matches is roughly the same amount of experience that many club coaches get in a single season between league and cup matches.

To think that Klinsmann wasn’t going to have a learning curve entering the U.S. job was unrealistic.

Most U.S. Players Are Hitting Their Peak Career Form

A look at the regular starters for the U.S. in its games in June reveals that the U.S., perhaps for the first time since the 2002 World Cup, will be entering a World Cup year with almost all of its players in the top form of their careers.

Omar Gonzalez, although shaky at times in the U.S.’ recent matches, was playing his best club football at the end of 2012 while his partner in the center of the U.S. defense, Matt Besler, was MLS’ Defender of the Year in 2012.

Geoff Cameron became a regular starter in the English Premier League this past season with Stoke City. Meanwhile, Jermaine Jones is a regular starter for a Champions League team in the Bundesliga. Michael Bradley did not shrink from his big move to Roma last summer and became a regular for the Serie A club.

While Fabian Johnson has a successful year with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga despite the team’s struggles, Graham Zusi is once again among the league leaders in MLS in assists and Jozy Altidore is coming off an amazing 31-goal season in the Netherlands.

Admittedly, by comparison to the other starters, the three Americans in the “worst” club form are probably Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley—and all three of them still did pretty well in the 2012-13 season.

After transferring to Champions League contender Tottenham, Dempsey still scored 12 goals this past season. Howard’s Everton finished in sixth in the EPL, with Dempsey as the man in the net and Beasley started 26 of Puebla’s 34 games.

Jurgen Klinsmann Has Successfully Transitioned Away from the Old Guard

Moving away from national team legends may be the most difficult thing that a national team manager does.

If the past stars are not called up and the results do not come, the manager faces alienating the fan base and destroying the confidence of his team.

Yet, Jurgen Klinsmann has managed to move away from the U.S.’ contingent of its biggest former stars without sacrificing results.

Carlos Bocanegra was benched against Honduras and then left off the roster entirely for the last three USMNT camps. While he may still have a place on the U.S. roster as a backup center-back (he is still better than frequent call-up Clarence Goodson), he is clearly not in Klinsmann’s plans as a starter and has even lost his captaincy to Clint Dempsey.

Oguchi Onyewu recently received a call-up for the Gold Cup, but again, barring a place on the roster as a backup center-back, he is unlikely to see the World Cup roster after three years of injuries and sub-par performances for club and country.

Steve Cherundolo missed the February, March and May/June camps for the U.S. with a knee injury, and at age 34, is now a question mark to make the roster in 2014.

Finally, Klinsmann has been able to get his recent results without calling up the all-time U.S. leader in both goals and assists, Landon Donovan.

Instead, Klinsmann has stuck with his younger group, getting those players invaluable experience and, most importantly, results while doing it.

Looking forward, there may be one more veteran to fall before 2014. With Brad Guzan enjoying a standout season last year for Aston Villa, the U.S. goalkeeping job could become a full-fledged battle should Tim Howard struggle at all in the coming year for club or country.

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