CINCINNATI -- There is a tendency in international soccer to derive meaning from every game. The absence of regular fixtures and the outsized importance of the World Cup has the effect. Externally, that can make for an unproductive process that fosters overreaction and brings about unanswerable questions.
Take the United States men's national team's Gold Cup quarterfinal game against Canada on Sunday night at TQL Stadium, for example. An incredible crowd assembled to deliver a high-stakes atmosphere, and a chaotic series of events made for a memorable night. In the span of about an hour of real time, the U.