World Cup 2014: Neymar's Injury Dampens Brazil's Win Over Colombia

FORTALEZA, Brazil — It was a huge win for Brazil, yet it took on at a tremendous expense.

Brazil on Friday fueled to an amazing 2-1 quarterfinal triumph over upstart Colombia at Estádio Castelão, setting off an alternate round of unruly across the country celebrating. Yet the commotion and celebration demonstrated brief, as it was uncovered after the amusement that Neymar — the nation's best player and greatest star — would miss whatever remains of the World Cup in the wake of harming his back in the withering minutes of the immensely physical diversion.

The Brazilian group has had stand out objective this hot time of year: to win the nation's sixth World Cup trophy while playing on home soil. The triumph on Friday was a critical step, setting up an elimination round next Tuesday against the influential German squad.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil's mentor, said he and his players constantly expected Germany would remained in their way to the trophy. At the same time the test seemed to get much steeper late Friday night as the degree of Neymar's damage was uncovered.

"He was yelling out in ache," Scolari said of Neymar. "It won't be simple for him to recuperate, taking into account what the specialist let us know and the ache he's in."

Minutes after Scolari's postgame news gathering, the group specialist Rodrigo Lasmar said that Neymar had managed a cracked vertebra in his lower back. Lasmar said the harm would not oblige surgery, however would take three to four weeks to recuperate.

It was a colossal hit to the group, the nation and the competition. Neymar, 22, who plays for Barcelona, has had his face put on announcements and indicated in TV ads since well before the competition. For such a youthful player, he was shouldering a colossal measure of obligation.

In any case he had conveyed on the buildup. Neymar scored four objectives in the competition, and he gave the aid on Thiago Silva's opening objective in the seventh moment Friday night. Brazil multiplied its lead on David Luiz's free break in the 69th moment, and hung on after James Rodríguez's 80th-minute extra shot for Colombia.

It was a high-stakes diversion, and play developed progressively serious as the amusement wore on, with both Neymar and Rodríguez, an additional 22-year-old assaulting star, who completed the competition with six objectives, taking a few hard fouls. There were 54 fouls brought in the diversion, the most astounding aggregate of any match in the competition. Scolari recognized that both groups most likely played with an excess of physicality, however he said the arbitrator, Velasco Carballo, did not do what's necessary to control the tenor of the amusement.

With about five minutes left to play, the Colombian protector Juan Camilo Zúñiga went airborne on a detached ball and wound up driving his knee into the lower again of Neymar, who promptly folded to the turf in torment. Neymar's buddies could be seen motioning to the seat for a substitution as a stretcher was brought onto to the field. He was taken to a close-by healing facility, where a swarm of fans soon shaped.

Colombia Coach José Pékerman said the physical play was the result of two uniformly matched groups playing a basic amusement.

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"It appeared to me the same thing happened with both groups," Pékerman said. "We lost the smoothness to the amusement due to that contact and power."

Scolari said he thought his group still had the ability to win the competition. "There are seven steps, and we've effectively climbed five," he said in the wake of conveying the news in regards to Neymar.

The damage hosed what had been a mixing night for the group. After a stunning version of the Brazilian national song of praise, there was scarcely a break in the clamor as Brazil grabbed the lead. Taking a corner kick from the left side, Neymar twisted a ball over a swarm of players to the far post. Silva, the group's chief, sprinted onto it unmarked and pushed it over the line with his left knee, lighting wild festivals in the stands. (Silva will miss the elimination round, as well, because of yellow-card amassing.)

The diversion carried on at a frenzied pace as Brazil sent multilayered assaults falling to Colombia's resistance. Luiz included the second objective an alternate set piece in the 69th moment, beating in an astounding free kick from 30 yards out. The ball scarcely experienced a full revolution on its burning, explanatory way, sidestepping the scope of goalkeeper David Ospina and settling into the upper right partition of the net.

However the air developed anxious again in the 80th moment as Colombia cut into the lead. Carlos Bacca won a punishment in the wake of getting wiped out by manager Júlio César on an one-on-one chance before objective. What's more Rodríguez falter stepped and slipped the resulting kick into the base left corner of the objective.

It prompted a hysterical completion, and a last whistle that was music to the fans' ears. They waited to sing and cheer the players, who held hands at midfield to salute the diverse corners of the stadium. It was a minute of joy and an alternate venture on the route to their fancied end point.

It would soon offer route to a minute of gloom.

Netherlands vs Mexico: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar places Netherlands into last eight after Arjen Robben wins late penalty

In temperatures that give a hint of what a World Cup in Qatar might be like, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s injury-time penalty broke Mexican hearts.

Holland advance to the quarter-finals after the swiftest of one-twos dispatched their stubborn central American opponents, who had led for 40 minutes as the game reached its conclusion.

First, with but two minutes of normal time remaining, an astonishing goal by Wesley Sneijder cancelled out Giovani dos Santos’s opener. Then, deep into added time, Arjen Robben advanced threateningly to the byline, cut inside the penalty area and encountered Rafael Márquez’s leg.

It was the third time the Bayern Munich man had been in with a chance of securing a penalty in the game, and this time he was making no mistake. Perhaps angered by his two previous refusals, he gave the referee no option by flying through the air as if from the 10-metre board at the slightest touch on his ankle from the Mexican captain.

Moments later Huntelaar’s nerveless spot-kick confirmed the turnaround and a deflated Mexico were heading home, incandescent about a referee their manager, Miguel Herrera, later insisted had cheated his team of progression. It was a finish the excitement of which belied the game’s opening.

 The first half was as might be expected when two defensive teams are obliged to meet in an oven. As the Brazilian temperature gauge would insist, it was extraordinarily hot out there; in the parts of the stands exposed to the sun, the fans stood in clusters at the back rather than taking to their seats where they risked being fried on the spot.

This was the first game of the tournament in which an official drinks break was sanctioned. Holland’s Louis van Gaal shamelessly took this as an opportunity for an extended mid-half team talk, urgently issuing instructions as his players replaced fluids.

He had already needed early reorganisation when Nigel de Jong was injured in a first-minute challenge. The former Manchester City enforcer was replaced by Bruno Martins Indi, with Daley Blind moving ostensibly into midfield. Though as Van Gaal’s central pairing routinely dropped in when the Mexicans had the ball, creating a back seven, midfield was a relative term. It was an orange wall the Dutch had constructed, anchored around the redoubtable figure of Ron Vlaar, a man who does not look as though he were bullied at school.

The Mexicans – who had conceded only one goal in the group stage – were equally adept at getting behind the ball. Every time Robben was in possession he found himself hemmed in by opponents. No more so than just before half-time when he strode into the penalty box to be met by a welcoming committee of green-shirted defenders.

 First, Márquez clipped him on the back of the calf, then Héctor Moreno appeared to hack his legs away from him. As he picked himself up, expecting imminently to be placing the ball on the penalty spot, Robben could not believe the referee had waved play on.

What happened as the second half got under way, however, changed the tenor of the game. Somewhat against the possession statistics, Mexico conjured up a goal. And it was a magic strike. Receiving the ball just outside the Dutch box, Dos Santos ran across the orange back line and dispatched a left-foot shot into the corner of Jasper Cillissen’s net. It was a lovely goal, another of this World Cup’s cluster of long-range howitzers.

It meant Holland now needed to attack. The back five became a back three as the full-backs pushed into midfield. Dirk Kuyt ran himself into the patchy turf in pursuit of an opening. Robben came further and further back in search of the ball, increasingly beginning his incursions from inside his own half.

Van Gaal sent on Memphis Depay for Paul Verhaegh, swapping his formation to the more traditional Dutch method of 4-3-3. The resulting orange swarm won dozens of corners. From one, Guillermo Ochoa, who had become a Mexican hero after his goalkeeping performance against Brazil, made another amazing save from Stefan de Vrij, somehow getting his face in the way of the Dutchman’s smart flick.

 Then Robben thought he should have had another penalty, as he fell under a barrage of tackles. But the referee, Pedro Proenca, was not convinced the contact was initiated by the defender. As Holland besieged the goal, the huge Mexican contingent were once again grateful to another outstanding save from Ochoa, this time after Robben had drifted through the defence into a perfect position to shoot.

With the Dutch leaving gaps as they bound forward, Herrera did what he generally does in such circumstances, he brought on Javier Hernández to exploit fresh space. It was a big audition for the Manchester United forward, in front of the new boss, but he did little to convince. As Hernández went one way, his club-mate Robin van Persie went the other, taken off, looking shattered by the conditions.

It looked as though those conditions would ultimately remove one more European team from this competition. Until, from yet another Robben corner, Depay headed the ball back to the edge of the Mexican area. It seemed like an error, but Sneijder latched on to it to send the ball as if laser-guided into the back of the Mexican net for a stupendous equaliser. Then came Robben’s Tom Daley moment. And the orange wall moves on.

U.S. developments out of World Cup's Group of Death after 1-0 misfortune to Germany

The loudest cheer of the day, thundering over the saturated field or more a bunch of grasping players, arrived when the news was conveyed on two corner scoreboards, by method for Brasilia. Mutinous Ghana had yielded no further objectives to Portugal, so both those sides had been killed from the World Cup. They had turned into the two competition fatalities, in the Group of Death.

That left two groups standing – however one standing significantly taller. Germany totally commanded this upbeat closure match, beat the Americans, 1-0, and on occasion seemed to have a place on a completely distinctive pitch. Some way or another, the soccer gathering lives in America, regardless of the fact that this specific diversion demonstrated more survival test than party. The one-objective misfortune earned the U.s. another opportunity in the second adjust. It additionally may have showed there is minimal chance for extreme triumph yet, however that is a doomsday thought for an alternate day.

"Last amusement's draw against Portugal felt like a misfortune," Omar Gonzalez pronounced. "This current diversion's misfortune felt like a win."

Thomas Muller, a scoring machine, gave the Germans the triumph in the 55th moment with a rocket inside the far post from the left top of the case. A jumping Tim Howard no shot. It was Muller's fourth objective of the competition, impending directly after a splendid recovery from Howard off a header from Per Mertesacker.

then again eventually after that, the Americans played significantly deeper and all the more mindfully, knowing their possibilities of progression may depend on the score of this thrashing. It did. The U.s. completed with a 1-1-1 imprint for four focuses, same as Portugal, however with a three-objective edge in differential. The Portuguese paid a definitive cost for their 4-0 annihilation to Germany in the opener.

"The players, we would not like to realize that other score," Jermaine Jones said.

With 10 minutes left, Howard told his shields the score at any rate, didn't need them to push excessively high. An if to demonstrate they are no slumps, the Americans abruptly and startlingly pressed for the equalizer in included time. Alejandro Bedoya's shot was blocked and Clint Dempsey's header cruised over the crossbar. The last whistle blew, in the end. Jurgen Klinsmann worked his route to the center of the field, embracing and praising the German players and staff he knows so well.

"Today was a troublesome sort of amusement," Dempsey said. "Regardless of the extent to which you need to push, you know a draw gets you there."

The U.s. will play a second-adjust match in Salvador on July 1, against Belgium. Dempsey cautioned the Americans will need to stay conservative on barrier in that match, while holding the ball more. They have to play all the more as they did against Portugal, less as they did against Germany.

Propelling from the Group of Death was no simple undertaking, regardless. The U.s. has now made it to the second adjust of two straight World Cups shockingly since this arrangement was established. Portugal may even now set forward doomsday arguments, in light of Klinsmann's nearby association with Germany chief Joachim Low. It will be difficult to persuade Americans back home, notwithstanding, their group was not under true weight for practically the whole 90 minutes.

On saturated grass, Howard and the overmatched U.s. group scarcely figured out how to keep the Germans off the score sheet in the first half notwithstanding having the ball just 40% of the time. Howard forcefully cut off several low crosses at an opportune time that were greatly hazardous. The initial couple of minutes, specifically, were an apprehensive time.

"It was not all that effortlessly to handle it rationally, we had an excessive amount of admiration for them the initial 20, 25 minutes," Klinsmann said. "At that point we settled in. Wish we would have made more risks, take it to Germany here or there, yet general this was a fabulous accomplishment. I shouted to the extent that I could to push our resistance up all the more, yet its less demanding said than done."

In the 35th moment, the U.s. goalkeeper made his best spare on a shot by Mesut Ozil. As though to demonstrate Germany's aspiring goal, Low acquired veteran striker Miroslav Klose at the begin of the second half.

The field was clearly wet, however not unplayable. Also by halftime, Portugal's one-objective lead in the other match in Group G really supported the Americans.

Klinsmann rolled out two improvements in his lineup to begin the match – one normal, one astonishing. He sidelined Geoff Cameron, who had an awful match against Portugal, for Omar Gonzalez. He likewise acquired Brad Davis for Alejandro Bedoya at left striking midfield. Bedoya went ahead as a sub, then again.

In the 73rd moment, Jermaine Jones and Bedoya slammed in an alarming impact that left Jones lying from the beginning unmoving on the field. Both players came back to the field, then again.

"It's bad," Jones said. "I think my nose is broken."

He joins Dempsey in that classification. The Americans know all their broken noses will be on the field against Belgium. Possibly, simply perhaps, they'll get back Jozy Altidore, as well. They were outmaneuvered on Thursday, yet existed to play an alternate day, directly into July.

At World Cup, US men's soccer group shows heaps of life

So perhaps they're not dead men strolling when its all said and done, the star-radiant zombies bound to stumble through the Group of Death until they're pulled under. The US soccer group may not win the World Cup yet they may well be among the living after gathering play is carried out and that is more than most soccer eyewitnesses anticipated for them when they were drawn with Ghana, Portugal, and Germany last December.

It wasn't so much that the Yanks got a valuable 3 focuses in their opener against the Africans on Monday night in Natal, Brazil. It was the way they did it — thumping the Black Stars over on their heels in the first moment, surrendering the equalizer in the 82d, then overseeing the knockout blow four minutes after the fact from an opposing substitute (John Brooks) that no one however his mentor and selector Jurgen Klinsmann knew much about.

Just once in the advanced period (since its come back to the stage in 1990) had the US won its first Cup excursion (3-2 over Portugal in 2002) and it was never more vital than it was this time given who's on the move card.

On the off chance that the Americans had lost they in all likelihood would have been three-and-out since they've never exceptional in the wake of dropping their opener. Also a draw, while satisfactory, wouldn't have done much to development their reason.

Anyway a triumph from a squad that has just a handful of Cup veterans was a spectacular begin, particularly against an opponent that had put the Yanks out of the last two competitions. Ghana, with its speed and size, was a troublesome matchup. So when Clint Dempsey moved and deked his direction goalward and lashed the ball off the far post after only 29 seconds, it was a sensational proclamation that this American breed tries for the jaw.

With the exception of the Portuguese match in Korea, when John O'brien popped in a fat bounce back following four minutes, the US had made an appalling propensity of surrendering objectives in the initial five minutes and needing to pursue the diversion and the competition everlastingly after. So when Dempsey scored the quickest Cup objective in group history (and the fifth-speediest in competition records), it was a sign that his mates proposed to stay around for some time.

The Americans had gotten a present from Klinsmann's old group before they even took the field when the Germans knocked the Portuguese into one week from now Monday evening in Salvador. Not just did the Mannschaft hang four objectives on Cristiano Ronaldo & Co., they may have put two of Portugal's key men — striker Hugo Almeida and guard Fabio Coentrao — down and out for Sunday's match with the US and also safeguard Pepe, who'll miss the match after his senseless red card.

That is the reason beating Ghana put the Yanks in a gorgeous position. In the event that they can release the Portuguese in the Amazon wilderness — and the chances of that are distinctly superior to what they were on Monday morning — they'll likely be ensured headway to the second adjust.

Not that there aren't concerns. Jozy Altidore's hamstring harm decreases the US ambush which depends on him, Dempsey, and midfielder Michael Bradley to get things going. (Think the unchosen Landon Donovan may have been a profitable choice?) If Altidore, who'd at long last discovered his scoring touch in the tuneup against Nigeria, is sidelined Klinsmann will need to evaluate an alternate triangle to keep the weight off his back four which, with the exception of changed midfielder Damarcus Beasley, are Cup new kids on the block.

With the exception of Andre Ayew's objective, which fell off a dazzling backheel from Asamoah Gyan, the US protectors (quite Attleboro local Geoff Cameron) took care of themselves respectably against a Ghana group that had a critical edge in shots and corners and goalkeeper Tim Howard was ordinarily strong.

What's more when it came to winning time the Americans accomplished it in excellent Teutonic style — a Brooks header off a Graham Zusi corner.

Streams, who plays for Hertha Berlin in the place where he grew up and had just five tops when he touched base in Brazil, is one of Klinsmann's German-American quintet. His father was an American serviceman from Chicago, his mother a German. He's 6 feet 4 inches and if a ball is taking off into activity, he's getting it.

No US substitute ever had scored in a Cup match however this group has a bundle of youngsters like Brooks who aren't reluctant to fall off the seat and onto the worldwide stage. They additionally have a couple of gentlemen like Dempsey, who've been through this monthlong kickaround a few times and won't be shaken. The commander scored the main US objective (against Ghana) in 2006 and the first (against England) last time.

This time he took a foot to the face (affability of John Boye) and came up bloodied however undaunted. The man from Nacogdoches once played two matches for the Revolution with a broken jaw. Chief America isn't going down simple. Nor are his workmates, who are, way up yonder, into the clouds with no less than two more to play.

Brands Use Music to Speak Globally in World Cup

Organizations that are publicizing for the World Cup are trusting music will inspire an emotional response with fans universally.

Since the FIFA World Cup, the universal soccer competition that starts on Thursday, is the most famous games occasion on the planet, publicists need to exploit the vast review gathering of people. Anyhow the World Cup postures issues for organizations that are accustomed to making a sprinkle at enormous wearing occasions like the Super Bowl with a pricey 30-second spot.

For one thing, soccer doesn't have a lot of business breaks, with two 45-minutes parts played generally straight through. Moreover, soccer is a worldwide occasion, so its tricky to make TV ads that interpret crosswise over societies. Thus, marks — both authority supports and those that simply need to benefit from the occasion — progressively are utilizing music to stand out just enough to be noticed:

Danone's Activia yogurt collaborated with Shakira to upgrade her fiercely prominent 2010 World Cup Song "Waka," about Africa, with a Brazil-driven feature for "La." Coca-Cola made a melody in English, "The World is Ours," and afterward made 32 neighborhood forms, every sung by a nearby craftsman in the local dialect. Also Beats by Dre dispatched a splashy new 5-moment feature "The Game Before the Game" that shows soccer stars like Neymar Jr. furthermore numerous others get ready for amusement time by listening to "Wilderness" by Jamie N Commons & The X Ambassadors.

The move is an exertion by organizations to attempt to catch the consideration of one of the biggest worldwide gatherings of people for any occasion. In the last World Cup four years prior, 3.2 billion individuals tuned in, including 909.6 million for the last match, as per FIFA. That is contrasted and the 111.5 million individuals who tuned into the Super Bowl in the not so distant future.

Games is an extraordinary unifier and not many games are as worldwide as the World Cup, said Allen Adamson, overseeing chief of marking firm Landor Associates. Music is the other enormous stage that transcends societies and dialects, so its an enthusiastic approach to interface with as wide a group of people as the World Cup crowd may be.

The connection in the middle of music and the World Cup is nothing but the same old thing new. The competition has had a signature tune since 1962 when "El Rock del Mundial" by Los Ramblers commenced the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Anyhow not long from now, mark melody tie-ins are more mainstream than this present year's official exertion.

FIFA's "We Are One (Ole Ola)," has been condemned by Brazilians and other soccer fans as being tone hard of hearing to Brazil society. Faultfinders gripe that it is sung by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Bronx-conceived Puerto Rican vocalist Jennifer Lopez rather than a Brazilian artist (despite the fact that it does characteristic Brazilian vocalist Claudia Leitte); and it is sung mostly in English and Spanish as opposed to Portuguese.

So advertisers have ventures in, along these lines far, are scoring enormous. Shakira's "La" feature, supported by Activia in organization with the World Food Program, has gathered 95 million Youtube sees since it went up 3 weeks back. By correlation, the authority FIFA tune has about 72 million perspectives following five weeks.

When we listened 'La,' we instantly knew shoppers would be affected by the cadence and vitality of this melody," said Santiago Mier Albert, general supervisor of Activia and VP of showcasing of Danone's crisp dairy items division around the world.

Coca Cola's melody has hit the main 10 diagrams in 40 nations around the world. That is a huge venture up from their last exertion in 2010, "Wavin' Flag" which was carried out in 24 adaptations and graphed in 17 nations.

The World Cup is widespread. Music is general as well, said Joe Belliotti, executive of worldwide amusement showcasing at Coca-Cola. Also in the event that you can find that straightforward song and basic melodious thought that can decipher and associate with individuals far and wide, that is the equation we strive for.

Beats has gotten about 8 million perspectives after only four days on Youtube. The five-moment promotion realistically indicates ceremonies players utilization to get primed for "The Game Before The Game." Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr. takes a motivational call from his father, Serena Williams gets an energetic nail trim, and they all shut out preoccupation with their Beats earphones to the tune of the foot-stepping "Wilderness."

It's a chance for Beats, which was as of late purchased by Apple for $3 billion, to venture out onto the worldwide stage surprisingly, said Barbara Lippert, long-term commercial commentator and an editorialist for Mediapost.com.

Beats is an organization about music, they truly know how to make music features, its a savvy methodology and flawlessly assembled, she said.

Landon Donovan left off US Soccer World Cup lists

At the point when U.s. Soccer contracted Jurgen Klinsmann to be the national group mentor three years back, one thing was clear. Klinsmann –  who won a World Cup, played in three and honed Germany to the elimination rounds of an alternate – was not going to take requests from anybody when it went to his program.

He demonstrated that point this evening, when he discharged – far sooner than anticipated – his last 23-man program for the 2014 World Cup. There were a few astonishments: among them the incorporation of Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski.

Be that as it may no astonishment was greater than this:

Landon Donovan, the substance of U.s. Soccer for as far back as 12 years, was left off the lists.

The player who has played in more World Cup amusements (twelve) and scored more World Cup objectives (five, including the additional time objective to push the United States into the second adjust) won't be going to Brazil.

You can't say Klinsmann didn't provide for us a lot of indications that he was headed in this heading. He let Donovan well enough alone for the beginning lineup in the group's last diversion, in April against Mexico, on the grounds that Donovan wasn't fit. In spite of the fact that this week, Donovan, 32, said his wellness has been among the tops on the group, it obviously wasn't sufficient.

This, it appears, descended to an issue of trust. Donovan softened Klinsmann's trust up promptly 2013, when he detracted time from the group, despite the fact that it was right amidst a basic World Cup qualifying push.  Donovan went to Cambodia and kicked the ball around with school kids while his group was battling to book an outing to Brazil.

Word was that Klinsmann was both exasperated and perplexed by Donovan's free enterprise mentality about the most critical competition in his game, ostensibly in all of games. It's imaginable that Donovan's destiny was fixed then and that it would make phenomenal moves to persuade Klinsmann that he had a place.

Despite the fact that Donovan did well when he came back to the group the previous summer, he evidently never completely persuaded Klinsmann that he could be depended on in a urgent fight. Also don't imagine it any other way: the U.s. group's endeavor to escape gathering play in Brazil will be an edgy fight.

Klinsmann tended to Donovan before camp opened at Stanford, saying,  Since he enjoyed his reprieve, I essentially let him know, If you enjoy a reprieve like that, then you need to battle your route go into the picture and you need to affirm it week in, week out with exhibitions for your club group and additionally with the national group. I'm direct with him each time that I see him.

With all the thankfulness and reverence for what he's carried out all around his vocation, which is phenomenal and merits the compliments that he gets, soccer is about what happens today. What you do today and what you surely do tomorrow.

We're not constructing the gathering focused around the past. We're building the gathering focused around what we encounter and experience together and what we accept is the right choice.

He likewise told 60 Minutes Sports, When I see accomplished players …  unwind a second and think, I'm there due to who I am, I get frantic. I don't need them to do that on the grounds that the minute you unwind means you're carried out. You ought to turn in until tomorrow.

He didn't name names, however you can figure who he's discussing. Since there are just a handful of American players who have done what's necessary to take that mentality and Donovan was one of them.

At the point when Donovan met the press on Monday I inquired as to whether this World Cup camp was more aggressive than any of the other three he'd been in.

For me, I kind of compare it to 2002, said Donovan, who was just 20 then. In '06 and '10 I knew generally, unless I was dreadful, that I was going to make the group. This time is more like '02, when I wasn't certain.

Some believed that was fake quietude. It would appear it wasn't.

Klinsmann is taking a risk. The U.s. has such a troublesome gathering  confronting Ghana, Portugal and Germany –  that there aren't especially elevated requirements this time around. In any case if the U.s. falls all over without its most accomplished player, Klinsmann will be faulte.