DOHA, Qatar -- Eight years ago, Jurgen Klinsmann famously said it was impossible for his U.S. men's national team to win the World Cup in Brazil. He said it to me in an extended interview for The New York Times Magazine a few months before the tournament, then doubled down on it in a press conference in Sao Paulo just before the U.S. opener. Klinsmann felt it was important to be blunt, but many American fans -- and some of Klinsmann's own players -- were troubled by what felt like a defeatist attitude.
On Saturday, in an exclusive interview with ESPN two days before his U.