By Jacob Klinger

For the US Men’s National Team, the year 2011 is not too different from a long night out. As of right now at least, it’s hard to tell if it should be remembered as a historical turning point or completely banished from memory.

It was a mixed-bag year from the very beginning. Fresh off of signing a new four-year contract, Bob Bradley led his team to a pair of 1-1 draws in international friendlies against Chile and Argentina respectively. Even within those two results there was plenty of contrast.

As has become tradition for US Soccer, Bradley rolled out a mash-up of the best national team fringe players from MLS and the Scandinavian leagues for the January match against Chile. The US was fortunate to a draw with the South Americans, only scoring from a late penalty. That penalty however, came about through some slick combination play between Alejandro Bedoya and Juan Agudelo before the latter was taken down in the box. Fellow substitute Teal Bunbury buried the subsequent penalty to cap a night on which he and Agudelo were largely responsible for getting the US back in the game at all. The performance by the two forwards – a long-time weak spot in the American lineup – promised plenty from a game that could have otherwise been largely ignored.

The encore to the Chile game came in the form of an immeasurably entertaining game against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, ranked fourth in the world at the time. A raucous crowd of nearly 79,000 watched at the New Meadowlands Stadium as Messi and company dominated the US in what was another slow first half for Bob Bradley’s team. Yet a more inspired second half performance saw Agudelo come to the rescue again, this time scoring himself to salvage a draw.

Still, there was no disguising the fact that the US had been far too thoroughly outclassed. Worse still, a long-time strength, the defense, had bogged down the entire team with a lack of composure on and off the ball. Oguchi Onyewu still looked far from in form and the rest of the defense’s insistence on booting the ball up-field left on already reeling midfield struggling that much more.

After a pair of friendly defeats at the hands of Paraguay and Spain, the US opened its CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign with a win over Canada in Detroit. The US came up with less-than stellar 2-0 win against their neighbors from the north, avoiding falling victim to what surely was a trap game. Then the walls came crashing down against Panama. Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream received the full rag doll treatment from a Panamanian side that was simply better, faster, and stronger on the night. Beyond playing some truly revoltingly soft soccer and making the final group game against Guadeloupe a must-win, the US had lost a Gold Cup group game for the first time in history.

And so Bradley’s squad licked its wounds and spurned plenty of chances on its way to an inefficient 1-0 win against a team featuring a number of amateurs. Yet US had made the quarterfinals to face an in-form and undefeated Jamaica team. Consistently inconsistent as ever, the team had the look of contenders as it skillfully sent Jamaica out of the tournament 2-0 with Landon Donovan on the bench for all but the game’s final 25 minutes.

In a grudge match with Panama, the US was savvy throughout as the US avenged its first round loss, again with Donovan coming off the bench. It was a Dempsey goal that made the difference on the scoreboard, but a gritty performance set up a titanic clash with Mexico in the final.

Mexico was always going to dominate possession, look better on the ball, and generate more scoring chances. They always did, but when it came to competitive matches on American soil the US had almost always found a way. Mexico razzled and dazzled from the opening whistle, generating chance after chance, but perfectly in historical character, the US bent but did not break. Instead, Bob Bradley’s side was leading by the familiar score line of 2-0 after a pair of strikes from Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. An American performance for the ages seemed to be brewing, after all, the pro-Mexico crowd at the Rose Bowl had been silenced, but not for long.

El Tri, as the Mexican team is called, found its footing, predominantly on the left side of the American defense where Jonathan Bornstein had come on to replace an injured Steve Cherundolo and put on one of the worst individual performances ever seen in a US shirt. By halftime the game was tied. By the end of 90 minutes the US had been embarrassed by its most-hated rivals to the tune of 4-2. While it is true that Mexico might have scored more had its attackers not been getting in each other’s way trying to have a run at the constantly retreating Bornstein, the whole team had left far too much space for its sharp-shooting opponents to work with. Mexico made the US pay, and by the time the dust had cleared, the Americans had lost the game, their pride, and their coach. It was a display many an American fan would pay good money to forget.

On July 29th the Jurgen Klinsmann era began. Bob Bradley had been fired and US Soccer President Gulati had decided it was time for a change. Initially Klinsmann recalled in an influx of technical Mexican-American talent (Torres, Castillo, and Orozco-Fiscal) to accompany MLS stars such as Kyle Beckerman, Break Shea, and Robbie Rogers. Unfortunately defenders Castillo and Orozco-Fiscal proved to be below the international standard. Torres however, reveled in Klinsmann’s possession-first system, before falling victim to injury in September.

Still, the initial blend of skill and speed showed plenty of promise as the US drew Mexico in its first match under Klinsmann before losing consecutive games to Costa Rica – a game it dominated – and Belgium. Dynamic players like Brek Shea and Timothy Chandler at times combined smoothly with the skills of Dempsey and Torres. At other times, the US attack sputtered as the search for a cut-throat finisher continued. Klinsmann came under fire for his perceived over-reliance on German-Americans, the team’s lack of scoring, and ultimately a lack of wins – only one against Honduras - during a time when he claimed to be experimenting.

This criticism came to a head when a cynical lineup lost 1-0 to France in Paris, playing with a single striker (Jozy Altidore) and looking uninspired throughout. Four days later though, with Clint Dempsey lurking behind the strike tandem of Altidore and Buddle, a first half explosion of goals saw the US run out of Ljubljana 3-2 victors. In that game, German-American Fabian Johnson proved to be a revelation as he was a constant menace to the Slovenian defense.

Heading into 2012, the US is coming off its first losing campaign since 1997, but it has also received a major facelift. Time is ticking with World Cup Qualifying looming next summer. Klinsmann’s mentality makeover is at an awkward pubescent stage, still searching for strikers, defensive depth, and a cohesive midfield, and most importantly, confidence. If the US is still sputtering next summer, 2011 will be seen as the start of a forgettable dark age in modern American soccer, but if the US “clicks” into the fluid possession game Klisnmann envisions, 2011 will go down as the beginning of a glorious and thoroughly memorable revolution.

HAVE YOUR SAY…What was your diagnosis of the U.S. men’s national team from 2011? What do you forecast for 2012? Leave your comments below.