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1. That's a great way to put it: that the U.S. can now legitimately give the top teams a headache. Perfect zero of their position.
2. Right, of course they're only expected to win routinely against also-rans. Not against top-25 teams, certainly.
3. Agree that aggressiveness, goalkeeping and luck is the path to a miracle.
4. Agree that the U.S. drawing or beating the top 3-4 teams is still something of a jaw-dropper. Of course, that's true of (say) Russia as well. Those top teams are simply awesome this year.
It's nice to see the U.S. playing so tough, but of course they don't have the 2-3, maybe 4 world-class players that MANY countries have.