Here are three takeaways from the United States’ 1-0 loss against Germany:
Survive and advance: Yes, the US lost and took a step back from their 2-2 draw vs. Portugal. But to paraphrase great single-letter philosophers Jimmy V and Malcolm X, survive and advance by any means necessary. Thanks to Portugal’s 2-1 win against Ghana — and their opening 4-0 loss to Germany — that’s exactly what the US did. After Cristiano Ronaldo ripped the Americans’ hearts out with Sunday’s late heroics, he gave them breathing room with Thursday’s 81st minute winner over Ghana.
Shooting blanks: It could be Germany’s compact defense, the usual woes in the third game of World Cup group stages for the US (1-7 all-time), or the aftereffects of Manaus, where the sweltering amazon has left teams drained for days. But the US mustered just four shots — none on goal — and midfielder Michael Bradley struggled again with poor first touch and being a step slow defensively. Goalkeeper Tim Howard had to do far too much and kept it scoreless until Thomas Müller scored on a rebound.
Up next: So, who’s on deck? Young, talented Group H champ Belgium, seemingly everybody’s darkhorse to make a deep run in this World Cup. They beat South Korea 1-0 despite playing a man down from the first half to set up a 4 p.m. game Tuesday in Salvador. A fairly-full-strength US team (minus Bradley and Fabian Johnson) lost 4-2 to Belgium in Cleveland last May 29. If the Americans can turn the tables, they would meet the Argentina-Switzerland winner on July 5.