Brazilians Bring U.S. National Team a Reality Check

Marcelo celebrates his goal with teammates Neymar and Hulk. (AP Photo)

The U.S. Men's National Team came into tonight's game with much hype. They had won five straight, including a convincing 5-1 win over Scotland. However, the team they were about to play wasn't anything like the Scots. This was a real test. Brazil.

In their history, the U.S. came into tonight's match with a 1-15-1 record against the Brazilians. Granted this was basically Brazil's Olympic team. In the Olympics, teams are limited to players under 23 years old and three older players.  So there was a glimmer of hope for a potential upset bid by the confident Americans.

The glimmer vanished fairly quickly. The Americans started out trying to create for Hercules Gomez, who started at striker. The Brazilians' first chance can when Hulk dribbled through the center of the U.S. defense and into the box. His blast forced a quality save by goalkeeper Tim Howard. Howard didn't get an opportunity to save the next shot because Leandro Damiao's shot inadvertently struck the arm of American center back Oguchi Onyewu. Despite the protests of the Americans, the referee immediately awarded the Brazilians the penalty kick. Young phenom Neymar buried it to gain the 1-0 advantage.

The Americans tried to counter, but Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael would have none of it. In the 26th minute, Brazil capitalized on some poor defending, as Silva's header found the net off a corner. The Americans showed signs of life before the end of the first half. Michael Bradley played a nice through ball to Fabian Johnson on the outside. Johnson played a low cross in that found the head of Gomez to trim the deficit to one.

But in the second half, it was the Brazilians who capitalized on their opportunities. In the 55th minute, Neymar cut through the U.S. defense and found Marcelo for the easy goal. The Americans had opportunities to get back in it, but couldn't find the net. Their best opportunity probably came in the 63rd minute. Gomez had a powerful shot that was beautifully saved by Rafael. His rebound though came right out to Terrence Boyd. Boyd's blast was amazingly denied by Rafael as well. In the 87th minute, substitute Pato put the icing on the cake, as he scored to make it 4-1 off a nice cross from Marcelo.

The main difference in this game is that the Brazilians capitalized on their opportunities, while the Americans did not. While the Americans may claim that the score was not indicative of the game, the bottomline is that you have to score to win. The Brazilians have understood that concept for decades. The backline for the U.S. clearly had holes exploited. They need to be much tighter in order to give Howard a chance to succeed. Finally, the Americans did way too much complaining, especially their leader, Landon Donovan. There were some questionable calls, including the hand-ball in the box, but that is always going to be the case. Donovan spent way too much time whining, rather than actually creating chances. He clearly needs to set a better example on the field. The Americans are making progress, but this is a reminder that there is still a long ways to go.