An Historically Friendly Result for the USA in Germany

Could it be that Jürgen Klinsmann is actually shutting up his Old School American critics?

Over the past couple of weeks, the USA Men's National Team has racked up a few impressive firsts.

• Last week they pull out their first ever victory over the Netherlands; and now,
• This week, they pull a rabbit out of their international caps and beat Germany on a late goal for their first ever victory in Deutschland.

Mario Götze, who figured prominently in Brazil -- to say the least -- got the reigning World Cup champions off to an early eighth-minute lead, but that wasn't enough.

Perseverance at its finest!

Mix Diskerud mixed things up and tied the game 1-1 right before the half with the sort of goal that makes football fans out of, well, football fans:

Nifty scissors kick, dude.

And then 22-year-old Bobby Wood put a late nail in der Sarg with a goal in the 88th minute, his second game-winning goal in five days:

Sure, the next Men's World Cup is in 2018 -- where it will be is up for conjecture again -- and clearly, much can happen between now and then. But if the Yanks can keep this up for another three years, that long-awaited next step might finally be taken.

Klinsmann's long view made for a couple of uncomfortable results a few months ago, but his holding steady against USA Soccer's internal politics is bearing fruit. As an aside, it must feel good for him to successfully stick it to his own country.

Sure, it's a friendly. The teams could use six substitutions. There were always fresh legs out on the pitch; that won't be the case in a real match.

Germany had over 60% of the game's possesion, more shots on goal, half as many fouls and offsides as the USA, and doubled the amount of corner kicks. So much for stats. Except one.

A huge key for the Americans is Brad Guzan in goal. The loss of Tim Howard was sure to be devastating, but during this international window, Guzan has been playing out of his mind against arguably the two best teams in the world.

Soccer fever struck the USA during the last Word Cup and it seems to have stuck around. The Women's World Cup is currently on center stage and America is one of the favorites.

If so, the temperature will be on the rise some more from where it was when this was 'cast: