After a 2-1 friendly loss to Colombia, U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann suggested his side played well and might have deserved a draw despite the onslaught of near misses against them from the No. 3 ranked team in the world.
"I think we had our chances to put the game away and they had their opportunities as well," said Klinsmann. "Overall maybe a tie would have been the right result. But this is exactly what we need, we need to learn to grind games out all the way to the end of the game."
The U.S. squad featured a number of new faces, such as 18-year-old Rubio Rubin, in the match held at Craven Cottage in London, as well as some experienced players, like Jermaine Jones, trying out new positions.
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A Jozy Altidore penalty early-on gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead, but after that Klinsmann's squad looked uncomfortable at times with the pace of play that their South American opponents maintained.
"They had the upper hand at the end, but overall I think we saw a lot of players with some really good performances," said Klinsmann.
"From an 18-year-old kid Rubio Rubin, who showed that he is kind of coming through the system which is exciting to see, I think we saw some individual performances that were just fun to watch.
"John Brooks seems to grow in his role, Jermaine Jones jumps to that centre-back kind of leadership role, Greg Garza seems like he's always been with us."
Klinsmann admitted his squad would have liked a better result, but said the U.S. squad is happy to have had the opportunity to play such a world-class side.
Once again, the U.S. boss alluded to fitness concerns for some players off the back of the 2014 World Cup.
"We had many players struggling after the World Cup to get back into shape, especially European players," said Klinsmann. "We had quite a few European players losing their starting spots.
"Right now they're on the way to getting them back, but it took quite a long time, because they came late in the preseason, so they're not as fit yet to claim right away their starting spots.
"Jozy is a good example, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler, John Brooks, Julian Green, all of them, they struggled."
The U.S. face Republic of Ireland on Tuesday, Nov. 18 (2:45 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and WatchESPN), in the national team's last game of 2014.
"Maybe you don't tell Ireland that we conceded too many goals in the last couple of minutes," joked Klinsmann.