The US – Belgium game was one to remember for a very long time.

Tim Howard, US Goalie, was nothing short of spectacular, stopping 16 shots on goal in the first 90 minutes, and keeping the US far enough in the game to have one last chance at the end for a tie, and a move onto penalty kicks.

Without Howard’s remarkable effort, Belgium, clearly the better team on both offense and defense, would have scored, at least 2 goals I think, and the game would have been over at full time. Of course it could have been much worse, but Howard stopped everything that came at time for those 90 minutes.

The US played with determination, and a lesser team would have folded after the 2 Belgian goals in overtime, but they came back, back to score and bring in the possibility of a tying goal in the last 30 seconds.

But we must remember that as brilliantly as Howard played, 16 saves shows exactly how far the US is from the major soccer teams: a ways. We have the determination and attitude to do great things — how good would a final four, say, in Russia in four years be? — but need additional attention to details and superior playing chances to take the US game to the next level. Here Klinsmann’s leadership will account for much, and his insistence on wanting players on the US team that play at the highest level — and now that means the Premier League, Bundesliga, Seria A, for example — is in my mind the best way to achieve that in the shortest period of time.

At some point it may become necessary for the MLS to abandon “American Exceptionalism”, and play its leagues, as everywhere else in the world, starting in the fall and ending in the spring. That would align the US game with the game everywhere else. In time the MLS may become as strong as some of the superior European teams, but that day is a ways off, and we need as many US players playing at their best in the best of circumstances.

Then we can really say “I believe that we will win” because it will be in line with reality.