Steve Cherundolo scored his first international goal in the U.S.'s 4-1 loss to Germany. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
Dortmund, Germany -- If Germany manages to reach the final four or even win the World Cup, German coach Juergen Klinsmann might want to send his friend, U.S. coach Bruce Arena, and U.S. Soccer a bottle of champagne or two for helping to restore his team's confidence and his countrymen's faith in the team.
In the wake of their humiliating 4-1 defeat to Italy three weeks ago, the Germans were looking for anything to save their psyche, pride and, according to some media reports, saved Klinsmann's job. The Germans exited Westfalenstadion with a 4-1 victory over a shaky U.S. team.
Now the U.S. knows how it feels to get its competitive nose bloodied and pride hurt. The defeat tied for the most goals and largest losing margin since Arena's tenure as coach started in 1998. The Americans were whipped by Germany almost four years to the day, 4-2, and lost in Costa Rica, 3-0, in October, 2005 after they had qualified for this World Cup.
"It's just as important as their kick in the ass against Italy," U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller said during a interview that became heated. "It's as important to us as well that we're not going to walk into the World Cup thinking, 'Ah, we beat Norway five-nil and we beat Japan in some games and we're great and we're untouchable.'
"Now you've learned against a tough team in the country where the World Cup is being held. . . . Wake up. It's a reality check for some guys. That's a good thing this time, that it doesn't happen June 12."
Due to injuries and club commitments, Arena was unable to deploy anything close to resembling his starting 11 and it showed big time, especially in the second half. Among the missing were star midfielders Landon Donovan (right calf strain) and DaMarcus Beasley (club commitments), forward Brian McBride (club commitments) and defenders Oguchi Onyewu (club commitments) and Eddie Pope.
Only three players in last night's line-up were likely to start against the Czech Republic on June 12 -- defender Steve Cherundolo, midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and Keller.
"I don't think too many players played their way onto the World Cup roster tonight," Arena said. "There are players who played tonight who are not going to the World Cup.
"I'll never come again to Germany to the host country in their last tune-up game with a second team. We got beat and deserved to get beat."
The U.S. managed to survive a sometime shaky first half before a crowd of 64,500 -- some of whom whistled and booed the German players as they left the field at hafltime -- before major defensive breakdowns showed the experience or inability of many players to play at this level.
"You had to know coming out in the second half that they were not going to be happy with some of those first half performances," Keller said. "I don't know what some of our players thought, that they could just run around and do what they wanted to and what -- those players are just going to roll over and let you do that?"
It took but 21 seconds for everything to unravel. Off the kickoff, the Americans fouled a German player some 25 yards out on the left side. Bastian Schweinsteiger, who had entered the match at halftime, sent an inswinger into the area. Miroslav Klose, who finished the match with a goal and two assists, initially appeared to have deflected the shot, but was judged to have not touched the ball, and Schweinsteiger was credited with the goal.
"I don't think I can express what you can print what I thought about that play," Keller said. "You just can't let balls bounce around in the box. It was our own fault. We put ourselves under a stupid amount of pressure to start the half."
It went from bad to worse. The Germans broke the game open with three goals during a nightmarish six-minute span as the defense -- particularly Gregg Berhalter, a veteran of the 2002 World Cup, and MLS defender of the year Jimmy Conrad -- were beaten badly.
Oliver Neuville beat Keller, his Borussia Moenchengladbach teammate, in the 73rd minute. Klose scored from seven yards in the 75th minute and Michael Ballack's header closed out the scoring in the 79th. The U.S. finally scored in the 85th minute -- on Steve Cherundolo's first international goal off a long shot as goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and American forward Eddie Johnston got tangled at the top of the area.
"The lesson is to keep your concentration for 90 minutes," Arena said. "We managed to do it for 45.
"Obviously, we played very poorly for the last 15 minutes of the game."
Asked how the U.S. would have fared had it had its full team, Arena replied, "Maybe we still lose 4-1," Arena said. "That doesn't matter. The team playing on the field tonight was the USA.
"I hope to see the German team down the road and perhaps we give them a better game."
The Americans certainly couldn't have given the Germans a better and much-needed boost.
Michael Lewis can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. He will only answer e-mails that are signed or have names.
