Coming of a 3-0 demolishing in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, the US needed a result from its second match against Italy.

The Italians won the team's first match against Ghana and were stacked with talent such as Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Gianluigi Buffon, and Francesco Totti.

It has been a rough couple of weeks for United States national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as he and his staff have been working hard to get the team prepared for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

It all started with questions and intense criticism over his omission of Landon Donovan from the 23-man roster as well his selection of some untested players such as Julian Green and DeAndre Yedlin.

Rising up again all odds, the U.S. team defeated Portugal in its opening game of the 2002 World Cup.

The 2002 World Cup for the United States started with an extremely tough test in European power Portugal. Fernando Couto, Luis Figo, and the rest of the Portuguese team were ranked in the top 10 and heavily favored going into the game in Suwon, South Korea.

The United States walked out on the field in South Korea with only two days rest after their loss to Poland to end the group stage.

Waiting for the Red, White, and Blue was a better rested and confident Mexican side led by Cuauhtémoc Blanco.

The United States defeated Azerbaijan 2-0 on Tuesday night behind goals from substitutes Mix Diskerud and Aron Johannsson.

The defense was largely untested, and the focus was largely on the play of the midfielders and the forwards. Here were the ratings from the game:

Jurgen Klinsmann surprised the United States soccer community last week by announcing his 23 man roster for this summer's World Cup.

The exclusion of Landon Donovan sent shockwaves on Twitter and beyond.

A big question for U.S. fans heading into the World Cup is surely on Jozy Altidore and just what is plaguing the young striker at Sunderland.

Many situations could each play a role in the poor season, coaching changes, style of play, shaky confidence, and so on. All of those factors end up being subjective and ultimately do not tell for certain what could be causing the former New York Red Bull to shrink into the shadows.

The USMNT classic with Mexico was a tale of two halves, with the U.S. drawing 2-2 with Mexico.

Here are the player ratings for the Americans:

American soccer fans were greeted by a welcome, if not anticipated as of late, surprise earlier this week.

The announcement of Bayern Munich forward Julian Green's decision to suit up for the United States national team over Germany on Tuesday has been warmly welcomed by many soccer fans across the country.

Tensions between Russia and the United States are moving from the political arena to the soccer field.

Two politicians from the State Duma are demanding FIFA kick the U.S. national team out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Aleksandr Sidyakin and Mikhail Markelov, deputies in Russia's lower house, are making the appeal to soccer's world governing body. The two are also asking FIFA to terminate the United States' membership in the organization.