If you are a United States soccer fan — I’m pretty sure I am — you have to be pretty darn excited right now.

The 2014 World Cup was fine. The United States made it through the group stages but were bounced in the first round of knock-out play, leaving fans wondering what direction this seemingly stagnant team was headed.

In a post-Landon Donovan era, it was a team that was built around getting players — and in turn, fans — out of their comfort zones.

For evidence of the United States’ changing of the guard, look no farther than Donovan’s weird departure from the team and from playing soccer. Fans who had grown up in an era when Landon Donovan was synonymous with the game in this country might have been questioning Klinsmann’s plan.

Largely because of players like Donovan, though, the United States has continued to find young, talented players. Getting those guys into winning form has been a tough, fluid code to crack.

In a recent game against the Netherlands, the US team looked like they were going to lose in familiar ways. There wasn’t enough back-line discipline. Forward Gyasi Zardes wasn’t taking advantage of his opportunities. Zardes did put one in the back of the net, but the United States was down 3-1 with things not looking good.

Then a few funny things happened. Central defender John Brooks — who gets pretty badly beaten at times — made a 70th minute  box-to-box run and finished to put the US within a goal. OK, his run wasn’t “box-to-box.” Actually, it started around midfield, but still, it was a piece of inspired play that depended especially on Brooks’ trust of others to cover his back line in the likely case his run hadn’t resulted in anything good.

OK, so here are those pesky Americans who always give their fans a little more hope than is realistic. So I thought.

Danny Williams, a relative unknown, proved me wrong and unleashed this crack to level the match.

Then lightning struck in the 90th minute. I mean, Amsterdam was reeling, but one name you know (Michael Bradley) and two names you probably didn’t know (Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood) took advantage and made history.

Yes, the Netherlands took their feet off the gas and no, their defense was never VERY good in this game.

But the US team took advantage. They scored four goals. They were opportunistic. They finished.

To summarize, The four goal-scorers on June 5th have six total goals between them in International play.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey’s group. However, in a post-Landon Donovan era, with a national team that was 1-3-2 since the World Cup, the recent wins are huge.

Following the comeback in Amsterdam, the Americans beat Klinsmann’s Germany and are now 4-1 in their past five games.

The really fun thing about their recent run is that they have done it without some of the names US soccer fans have gotten used to. Perhaps it’s time for US fans to get to know some of these younger, lesser-known guys.

A week ago, I sure was pumping my fist in excitement, celebrating a comeback for the ages. My arm has plenty more where that came from. I wonder if some of these new faces have the same.

Taking a late lunch, I got home at 1:00 — just in time to turn on the World Cup semifinal between Brazil and Germany. With Germany up 1-0 in the 23rd minute, my computer froze. I could still hear enough to hear the Ian Darke call of the Miroslav Klose goal.

OK, 2-0 Germany. Apparently, Flash had crashed. I restarted my browser.

I logged back in. And looked at the score in the upper right of the screen. It had only been two or three minutes.

4-0.

Holy crap. I don’t know what I expected out of this game, but I don’t think it was that.

"It's like amateur hour." "They've just completely given in" Good for the announcers for not going easy… #Brazil

— fansmanship (@fansmanship) July 8, 2014

The final was 7-1 in a game that will go down in the record books for all-time beat-downs. This was an NBA team losing by 50 in the Finals. This was a team losing 18-2 in a World Series Game 6. This was an NFL team giving up 600-plus yards and losing by 40 or 50.

So, a few thoughts as one of the semifinals is over:

1) It’s not over. Germany only beat the United States 1-0. They haven’t been playing GREAT before this game. The Germans caught lightning in a bottle, but in soccer this kind of momentum doesn’t always carry over match to match.

2) I’m not a big fan of post-game trouble. If I was a German fan, I’d buy a Brazil jersey and learn how to speak Portuguese really quickly. I’d blend myself into the Brazilian crowd and get back to my hotel bar as quickly and quietly as possible. I don’t mess around with that stuff when it comes to soccer. Wait ’til you’re back home or give it a few months before you talk trash in Brazil.

3) Ian Darke and his partner were really good. They contextualized the real situation in Brazil for the first time. Soccer gives a commentator 90 solid minutes, but it isn’t always easy to get the right words in at the right time. These guys did it splendidly.

4) Brazil looked like they quit. Darke said as much. They were described by more than one commentators as “amateurs.” The term “amateur hour” was thrown around, and justifiably so.

5) The more I see other teams break-down, I think the more proud of the United States team I am. They could have done better, but clearly they could have also done much worse.

6) On to semifinal number two: Argentina vs. Netherlands. As I see it, whoever wins this game will have the decided advantage in the final. Today’s game had an air of finality to it and I’ll be really impressed if Germany comes with a great performance in the final. Robben and Messi on the same field is not to be missed tomorrow.