Just like you don't want to make too much of a loss in a friendly, you don't want to make too much of a win, either. Congrats, certainly, to the USMNT for beating the Germans, but keep in mind that a) this was Germany's (at best) B-team b) the difference between win and draw was Marc-André Ter-Stegen's bone-headed own goal and c) the U.S. got completely outplayed during the final 20 minutes, as was fortunate to finish with the win.

Certainly, though, this match, coupled with the one against Belgium, gives us a good sense of the team right now.

Jozy Altidore showed the form that had him scoring 23 goals in the Eredivisie this past season. He was excellent. He made a couple of nice runs early--probably should have scored on the Graham Zusi free kick in the 7th minute in which he got in front of the defender but headed well wide. His movement on the first goal to shake Mertesacker was excellent--as of course was the finish. His run and pull-back cross to Dempsey in the 60th was lovely as well. A goal and an assist would normally be a man-of-the-match performance, but

Clint Dempsey was terrific, again. Two goals, both excellent, earns him Man of the Match. He continues to improve, and is easily the U.S.'s best field player right now.

Oh, and by the way, he plays for Tottenham. Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker? Arsenal. Please feel free to suck on that.

Michael Bradley. The team had so much more thrust than they did against Belgium. I used to malign him as "coach's son," but either I was wrong or he's vastly improved (or both). He ties the whole team together. Without him we're far worse.

The defense. Man oh man. It's just a major problem. I don't know what else to say. How many chances did Germany put wide in the first half? How easily did they score in the second? We might be able to get out of CONCACAF with defense this poor, but if we don't have it worked out a year from now, we'll be repeating our performance of 1998 and heading home after three matches. (We might even want to consider reinstating the cardboard cutout of Mike Burns.)

And in light of what I said about DaMarcus Beasley being our top-choice left back, please consider Edgar Castillo. He was utterly and completely outmatched by Sidney Sam, and his non-effort in the 87th minute, when Sam juked him and he literally just stood there, should be enough to get him removed from the team. If there really isn't a better player around to take his spot, well, my point is proven, isn't it?

How well can we expect to fare in the upcoming qualifiers? If Altidore's problem was confidence, you have to hope he put that problem to bed against Germany--he was excellent against an excellent team. Dempsey looks great, and Michael Bradley keeps the whole offense ticking. Against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras, with the latter two games at home, [check this] you'd like to think that the U.S. is good for seven points. But the defense is porous, to say the least. Anything less than five points will have to be considered a disappointment, but with the defense that the U.S. currently has on display, you have to consider that even as few as four could be a real possibility. I'd be shocked if they did worse than that, and if they do they're in real trouble.