On June 10, the USA beat reigning world champions Germany 3-2 in their own backyard, backing up a victory over Holland five days earlier, and all seemed rosy in the garden of Jurgen Klinsmann. Fast forward five months, and those roses have started to wilt. The joys of summer have been replaced by the concerns of autumn, with it possible that a winter of discontent lies ahead. A semi-final showing at the Gold Cup was the least that was expected, but failure to overcome Panama – for a second time in the competition – in the third place play-off rather compounded the misery of a last-four reversal against Jamaica.