The United States crested the midpoint of the 2014 World Cup cycle with an uneven but perhaps expected performance against Russia in front of 38,000 fans at Kuban Stadium in Krasnodar, Russia. Goodbye, 2012; hello, more grueling qualifying in 2013.

It was always going to be an up-and-down affair for a mixed bag of Jurgen Klinsmann call-ins who arrived on Monday and had little to time to familiarize themselves with the surroundings, must less one another.

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Video: Michael Bradley proves his worth

Russia plays a fairly fluid 4-3-3 managed by nearly all players from the domestic league, which meant style familiarity was sure to breed success. Meanwhile, the U.S. coaching staff scrambled to decode the MLS playoffs for call-ups and deem which weary European players should assemble and who should stay back. The U.S. left its best attacker in Clint Dempsey and defender in Steve Cherundolo back in England and Germany, respectfully.

The format for Klinsmann in these friendlies remains elementary and rote independent of personnel: continue to call in first-team defenders to develop, rely on the expertise of a tested veteran triangle in midfield and test out players around the periphery -- wingers and forwards -- to unearth an attacking nugget perhaps deeper in the player pool.

The system has worked to excavate Danny Williams from his right midfield abyss into a critical role as central midfield defensive cog and has unearthed Herculez Gomez and Brek Shea as plausible solutions.

This match, the strategy would be for the back line to keep calm in defending the Russian attackers flooding the central zone and for the midfield triumvirate of Williams, Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones to build more chemistry and control the space. It did not; Bradley took the reins here.

The other plan was for the U.S. attack to flood the side of the field where hype-machine favorite Josh Gatt -- a relatively unknown to the larger USMNT fan proletariat -- could brandish his speed and create some space for Jozy Altidore and Gomez. That was largely successful, and it was again the direct route that bore fruit in the U.S. attacking third.

American fans learned a little bit more in the early-morning friendly as the Yanks chugged toward a potential 2014 World Cup berth:

The U.S. has little depth -- and room for error -- in its defensive third. Tim Howard stood on his head again.

OK, this isn't anything new. It was reinforced.

The Achilles' heel of the 2006 World Cup run continues to challenge the U.S. here well into the run-up for World Cup 2014. Whereas Bob Bradley tried to use two central defenders and run the other team into the ground, Klinsmann has employed a single central defensive midfielder scheme and a more compact overall shape.

On Wednesday, it was youth, unfamiliarity and inability that did the States in. Williams' early giveaway on what should have been a routine stopped-ball restart allowed for probably the easiest goal in Russian history through first-timer Fyodor Smolov.

After captain and back-four organizer Carlos Bocanegra left with a leg strain, the U.S. was challenged to keep its shape the entire match. Clarence Goodson entered and perpetrated a series of blunders, the last of which was the fundamental mistake of failing to stay goalside on his attacker on a set piece. Goodson exacerbated the gaffe by clipping his mark's feet for a penalty kick leading to Russian goal No. 2.

Although fans should be highly encouraged by the play of Geoff Cameron, who moved left once Bocanegra exited, it's clear the U.S. is missing a key part that will be impossible to secure before 2014: a veteran who organizes and acquits himself well at the international level.

If it wasn't for another Howard special in goal, the U.S. could easily have seen four or five balls in the back of the net.

The game slows for Michael Bradley, but the States still miss a horizontal player to control the tempo in midfield.

Friendly or not, Bradley's lumber lash off the Russian right post was a world-class strike -- as scintillating as it was accurate.

Bradley and fellow midfield cohort Jones were charged with cutting down service high up the pitch and less concerned with creation on the day. However, it was Bradley who grabbed the scruff of the game in the second half and managed the ball out of the back and into opportunities. The same can't be said for Jones, who was again tactically miscast high up the pitch. What's more, it's embarrassing to watch Jones feign injuries upon a poor giveaway.

What the U.S. missed Wednesday -- and why fans saw two years of Jose Torres run-outs -- was someone to control the tempo once it broke through the midfield. Countless times the U.S. could only think to go vertical. As Russia was able to get numbers back quickly, this typically led to poor chances and, worse, exposure on the counterattack as Bradley and Jones, pressing for scores, found themselves behind the play on quick Russian link-ups on the floor.

The U.S. attack showed real glimmers of potential, but Klinsmann is right when he speaks about "belief."

After the last round of qualifiers, Klinsmann said, "We still don't have belief that we can make it really far in the World Cup." He's right.

Buoyed by the efforts of youngsters and veterans, the U.S. attack showed flashes of skill and execution. No more so than when Juan Agudelo found two defenders converging on him on the touch line and deftly authored a textbook down-the-line pass to a corner-flag-barreling Altidore. He rounded at the 18-yard mark and cutback for Jones, who didn't finish, but that's not the point.

The U.S. had the ability to cope, compete and attack a loose Russian man-marking defense, especially in the second half, but it did it only in tiny spurts. The States gave up on plays or made silly errors rather than not having the guile to break down Fabio Capello's group.

Oh, there were flashes, though:

* Gatt, a Norwegian leaguer, showed why he's a YouTube favorite of the USMNT uber fan. Raw and clearly inexperienced, the right winger was tasked with creating space on the overloaded right side. He got loose a few times -- oh, that pace -- ate an elbow in the box in the 15th minute and finished out his 60 minutes of work on the left in a more composed manner. Not a bad debut for the youngster in his first camp and start.

* Agudelo, 19, who was making quite a bit of noise two years ago at this time in the MLS playoffs and at a friendly in South Africa, had two catch-and-drop knockdowns that led to goals and displayed some of the ball hoarding under duress that can lead to true target man potential.

* Mix Diskerud, flirted with a call-up by Norway entered late but made his take matter, accounting for the strike that led to the second U.S. goal.

All in all, it must be deemed a somewhat successful, if very sloppy, match by the States as 2012 closes.

Wait!

And yes, Tim Chandler showed up again to tease U.S. fans with his strong bump-and-run coverage game and a few gallivanting runs up the right flank. Remember, this is a friendly, so which way the daisy petals fall on Chandler won't be known to the next qualifier in February.

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Matthew Tomaszewicz plays and writes on the beautiful game in his free time. He's the founder of The Shin Guardian, twice nominated for best U.S. Soccer publication, and is a frequent guest on MLS Soccer's March To the Match podcast. You can follow Matthew and his writers on Twitter @shinguardian on Twitter.

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