AUSTIN, Texas — There have been a couple signature results during this tantalizing new U.S. men’s national team era that’s so full of promise and potential. And last month, of course, there was a half in Honduras when every bounce went the motivated Americans’ way. But that was a period of improvisation and determination. It wasn’t soccer that seemed to leap straight from coach Gregg Berhalter’s whiteboard.
Until Thursday, there hadn’t really been a signature U.S. performance—a sustained stretch of play in a crucial game that Berhalter could point to as a sign of real progress and as an example of what’s possible, from design to execution.