According to the FIFA World Ranking the USA is rated 5th best team at the moment, which means yes, they can play football/soccer even if it is not part of the US sport heritage and the US team has done quiet well over the last years. More successful teams were only Brazil, Czechia, Holland and Argentina.
The US team yesterday did not play well but that was because 5 players of the starting team were missing. It was no official FIFA friendly match but a match arranged between the US and the German coach for game practise and testing players. Some of the US players were with their national teams.
The US team will be facing problems in the World Cup tournament if they have to replace players of the starting team with less experienced substitute players. The German team has the same problem. In the first half the US team was defending deep, thus showing how limited the abilities of the German team are, in the second half the US B-team fell apart when the German team scored goals.
The US soccer fan test:
The US soccer fans are definitely fit for the World Cup. I saw at least 4 people dressed as Abraham Lincoln (beard and hat), some others in colourful fantasy dresses. Lots of fans had enveloped themselves in huge American flags to show their pride and there were some nice ladies wearing cowboy hats. Howdy!
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