A dramatic come-from-behind win for the US in their friendly international against the Netherlands will serve as a lesson of the team’s potential to its many young members, coach Jurgen Klinsmann said.
“We need to learn to turn games around, to take games like knockout games. We have to have that mindset that we can turn things around,” Klinsmann said after the US came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 in Amsterdam on Friday in an impressive display of swift counter-attack soccer. “For all these youngsters, this is what they need to smell. This is what they need to see. They need to go to that tempo.”
The US now move onto another prestige friendly, against Germany in Cologne on Wednesday, as they prepare for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which they host next month.
Photo: AFP
“It’s a huge learning curve when you play teams like Holland, you can only benefit from that. It doesn’t matter what the result is,” he told reporters as the US beat the Netherlands for the first time, after losing all four previous internationals between the two countries.
His team fought back to win an exciting friendly thanks to goals by substitutes Danny Williams and Bobby Wood in the final two minutes at the Amsterdam Arena.
“Obviously it’s a good feeling now that we are growing. We all know that the Gold Cup is a completely different ballgame for us,” the former Germany striker said. “When you come to Europe, it’s a far more open game because they go at you. The first four to five games in the Gold Cup, they will play very defensively, and we will need to find other ways to score goals.”
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