Oh, you think so, Doctor?

Bruce Arena today proclaimed that playing Germany was a "mistake." Let's see...

*defending World Cup finalist
*playing at home
*desperate for a win
*starting most of its best players, whereas the US was playing at most three guys who are likely to start in June

Granted, the U.S. wouldn't have known #3 when the game was scheduled, but the first two were obvious and the fourth one must have seemed likely considering the timing of the game.

Here's what I'm worried about. The U.S. is going to enter this tournament with a lot of pressure. If you believe they're the #5 team in the world, then you think "well, they should make the knockouts." If you don't - and most people don't - then you want them to screw up so you can say "I told you so." Either way, anything besides at least a round of 16 appearance is going to be painful. I shouldn't be dreading the tournament so much, but it's hard not to at this point. Even when the full team was out there (against Poland), they didn't look great. I guess there's still plenty of practice left, though.