From the fans who packed Times Square for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s pep rally to the oddsmakers predicting the World Cup, few are giving Jurgen Klinsmann’s team much of a chance to survive the tournament’s so-called Group of Death. Few, except Klinsmann’s players themselves.
The U.S. will face two of the world’s best teams — second-ranked Germany and third-ranked Portugal — and a Ghana side that has knocked the Americans out of the last two World Cups.
But from Klinsmann to his players, they not only reject the notion they can’t advance, they even reject the idea they’re underdogs.
“We all expect to do well,’’ Klinsmann said Friday as his team prepared for Sunday’s 2 p.m. friendly against Turkey at Red Bull Arena. “Yes, it’s a very difficult draw. It’s a tough group. We are expected to do well, and we expect to go in the knockout stage. We have to figure out how to do that.
“We believe absolutely we can go into the next round. Will there be tough games? Absolutely. But that’s what the World Cup is about. … Now, expectations in the long range are different. Germany is expected to win the World Cup; we are not expected to win. But we expect to go far. We believe we can go far in this World Cup.’’
They’ll have to believe in themselves, when so many others don’t. An analysis by Goldman Sachs predicted the U.S. would fail to survive the Group of Death, giving the squad a 41 percent chance to reach the knockout stages.
The U.S. team’s response? Don’t bet against us.
“We believe,” captain Clint Dempsey said. “We know the work we put in, and what we’ll get out. We know we couldn’t be working harder than we are.
“We know what we have in this locker room, and we believe. If we give all we have, we can do something great, something special. That’s what’s going to push us forward, push us through in difficult times, push us to win the game when it’s tied. Our belief, our togetherness is something that’s really special.’’
They’ll need more than that.
With the buzz over Landon Donovan’s exclusion from the roster finally beginning to die down, Klinsmann can concentrate on settling his back line, tweaking his tactics and conditioning his team.
Dempsey’s health was even in question after he was a late scratch Tuesday against Azerbaijan in San Francisco with a groin injury, but he said he’s fit to face Turkey. Still, fitness — long viewed as the team’s strong suit — has been a hot-button topic since training camp started at Stanford on May 14.
They’ll log 11,500 miles in 10 days from their Sao Paulo base, face Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal in the middle of the Amazon jungle, and have to be the fittest team in the group, playing at a tempo their foes can’t match. With some players coming off long European seasons and others just rounding into form in the MLS campaign’s earlier stages, that’s easier said than done.
They’re also adjusting from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-4-2, with Michael Bradley at the top of the diamond. That frees Bradley to attack more, and pushes Dempsey up front to serve as a much-needed strike partner in Jozy Altidore. The striker has struggled since moving to Sunderland and is mired in a 1,771-minte scoreless skid for club and country.
“We believe in the group that we have,” said Altidore, who could understandably have lost some belief in himself. “It’s going to be very difficult, but we believe in ourselves.”
“Jozy has a very special World Cup ahead of him, where he can prove a point,’’ Klinsmann said. “He went through a tough patch at Sunderland, but he fought through it.’’
As will the U.S. if it plans to advance in Brazil.