USA vs. Germany 2014: Biggest Issues for Each Team in World Cup Round of 16

Ninety minutes later, we're exactly where we were when we started. Both Germany and the United States are through to the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup after the Germans' 1-0 win.

Despite the defeat, Jurgen Klinsmann chose to look at the positives, per FIFA.com:

"

It’s a great achievement to get out of this group and into the knockout rounds. It was a difficult game, both physically and mentally, because the knowledge that a draw would be enough was always at the back of our minds. We were a bit too nervous and showed them too much respect at the start but we calmed down as the match wore on. We’ve got a great team and we put in a superb performance.

"

Thursday was far from a banner performance from either team, though, with the torrential downpour in Recife not helping matters.

Looking ahead to the next round, each team has an issue or two that need addressing over the upcoming days.

Germany

Lack of Natural Full-Backs

When looking back at the match, you can't find too many holes in Germany's performance. They dominated possession—68 percent according to WhoScored.com—and had six shots on target.

In rainy, wet conditions, you can't ask for much more.

Lukas Podolski didn't play very well, but that can easily be resolved by placing Mario Goetze back in the starting lineup. Goetze played very well against both Portugal and Ghana, so there's no reason why he shouldn't be there in the round of 16.

The one issue that continues to persist, though, is Germany's lack of natural full-backs.

Jerome Boateng looked good going forward, but that was mostly during the early stages of the match when Brad Davis was stuck out on the left. When Graham Zusi was moved there, Boateng didn't have as much license to roam.

Benedikt Hoewedes, on the other hand, was a completely different story. The Schalke defender doesn't look comfortable at left-back, and he offers little width going forward.

German football journalist Stefan Bienkowski was less than enthused with what he had seen from Hoewedes:

Germany weren't punished against the United States because the Americans didn't offer much of a threat out wide. But look no further than the 2-2 draw to see how much a team with speed on the wings can hurt Die Mannschaft.

You can see why Joachim Low wants to keep Philipp Lahm in midfield, but at the very least, he should consider Erik Durm in the round of 16. As inexperienced as he is, the Borussia Dortmund defender is at least a natural left-back.

United States

Decide What to Do with Michael Bradley

Ricardo Mazalan/Associated Press

Is Michael Bradley a box-to-box midfielder or a more advanced playmaker?

Basically, he's being asked to do both things and, as a result, isn't doing one of them particularly well.

You could see in the loss to Germany that Bradley was often ending up quite deep in midfield to cover for Jermaine Jones' forward runs.

While that explains in part some of his ineffectiveness, Bradley simply didn't look comfortable on the ball, either. His first touch let him down a few times, most notably at the end of the first half when he failed to control a pass at the top of the 18-yard box.

The rainy conditions didn't help, but Bradley's underwhelming performance stood out:

It is important to point out that Bradley has done a ton of running throughout the World Cup, and after playing 90 minutes in Manaus, he was probably gassed at the opening whistle on Thursday.

Simply blaming and piling on Bradley without considering all of the outside factors would be unfair.

There's no question, though, that he'll need to be much better in the United States' next match if they want to get through to the quarterfinals.

Even more importantly, Klinsmann must figure out what he's doing with Bradley. Having him yo-yo between a bunch of different roles doesn't help anything.

Stretching the Defense Too Thin

As The Shin Guardian's Matthew Tomaszewicz pointed out, far too often Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez were pushed out wide to cover for DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson, which left a ton of space through the middle:

Using Kyle Beckerman as the only defensive midfielder was, in retrospect, a bad idea. Like Bradley, he played 90 minutes against Portugal in addition to the 90 he played against Ghana.

Beckerman was arguably the U.S.' best player against Germany and ran his socks off. Yet that space through the center remained.

That's something Klinsmann will have to think about in the Americans' next match. Playing Beckerman by himself again as the long defensive midfielder may leave the middle of the pitch exposed once again.

A double-pivot of Jones and Beckerman might be the better option, as long as Jones can remain somewhat committed to his defensive duties.

Maybe Bradley can drop deeper and play next to Beckerman on a more regular basis.

Either way, the United States need to do something to provide more cover for their centre-backs.

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