I'm not the biggest soccer expert, but I have been following the sport (mostly European soccer and all the major international tournaments) for many years. Someone else with better knowledge can chime in here, but here's my take on Team USA, based on what I saw in this World Cup:
The team has 2 main strengths and 2 weaknesses. The strengths are the goalkeeper Tim Howard and the midfield, the weaknesses are the defense and the strikers.
Tim Howard is solid, and one of the best goalkeepers in the world. In my opinion, of the 5 US goals given up in this World Cup, he was perhaps at fault for just one, the first goal against Ghana in Saturday's match. Even that goal probably does not get scored if black defender Tim Clark doesn't make a huge blunder to turn the ball over and start Ghana's attack which lead to the score. At 31, I think Howard has a few more years to man the goal for USA, leading up to the 2014 Cup.
Speaking of those 5 goals given up, that's primarily because the US defense is not up to par at this world class level. The unit cannot measure up to the likes of Argentina, Germany, or heck, even Ghana plays good defense.
I saw many moments of defenders falling asleep, misreading balls, bad spacing (the 2nd Ghana goal), etc. I have no idea how the defense needs to be improved, other than just continuing to learn and gain experience. Coaching might also be part of it, along with a general lack of talent. Is there more youth coming thru the college and MLS ranks?
The US midfield is as good as any in the world with players like Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley. Those 3 scored all 5 US goals, as well creating pretty much all the opportunities (as midfielders should), but you need to some help from your strikers on offense. You cannot rely almost entirely on your midfield to carry all of your offense.
This brings us to the strikers, I guess in some ways, the glamour position for most teams. The caste clowns will point out that this position requires speed and athleticism, so there's the obvious preference for blacks here. But Altidore and Findley pretty much sucked against Ghana and wasted some good chances. The problem is, their speed is useless. They do not have the required skills to convert those precious opportunities to goals. Compared to players like Ronaldo, Messi, or Klose, I saw the US strikers lost in front of the goal, bumbling away what appeared to be sure scores. There's a reason why the world's best strikers are almost exclusively white. They combine all the required skill-sets, which few blacks can considering their overall lack of hand-eye coordination as one example.
Anyway, these are my impressions of Team USA at this time. If there's a push to get the team more like France, I think that will be a virtual guarantee that the team will suffer in the coming years.
Expect to hear more moronic commentary from the so-called analysts and other media people on how the LeBrons, TOs, and Rondos of the world would have made a difference if they were playing.