USA celebrate their victory over Mexico (Allsport)

By Jeff Taylor, PA International

Click here to place your World Cup bets!
Click here for USA team section
Click here for teams index
Click here for latest World Cup headlines
Click here for World Cup photo gallery
Click here for World Cup Bettingzone

Talent, attitude and good fortune will make any team a tough proposition in any sport.

The United States have all three in abundance at the World Cup.

Self-belief was endemic long before they slammed three goals in 36 minutes past a crack Portugal outfit to win their opening game 3-2.

"Obviously we want to win it," American striker Landon Donovan had said. "If you come here with any other idea, you should not be here."

The dream remained as vivid as ever on Monday when America defeated bitter rivals Mexico 2-0.

Their fifth triumph over the CONCACAF giants in the last six meetings has given them a quarter-final meeting with three-time winners Germany.

"It is a great day for US soccer," said USA coach Bruce Arena.

"We beat the group winners (Mexico) in a group with Italy, we beat one of the top five teams in the world in the opening game (Portugal) and we were the only ones to get a point off Korea.

"We have had some impressive results at this World Cup so far and we have now proved that we have a good team."

So the land of baseball, basketball, ice hockey and what the Brits call 'American' football has now tasted success in the world's game.

The United States left France red-faced with embarrassment after failing to collect a single point against Germany, Iran and Yugoslavia at France 98, but times have changed.

Crucially, the USA appointed Bruce Arena after parting with Steve Sampson.

The former University of Virginia coach and later DC United boss was a winner who already had the respect of US captain Claudio Reyna, central defender Jeff Agoos and reserve goalkeeper Tony Meola - he coached them at Virginia.

Arena, revered in the American game, has also been willing to gamble on young American players.

Donovan, DaMarcus "Jitterbug" Beasley and John O'Brien turned professional out of high school instead of playing at university and have reaped the benefits.

Donovan, contracted to Bayer Leverkusen, was not ready for the pressure cooker of Bundesliga football and has thus been loaned to San Jose in MLS where he has thrived.

Beasley, a Chicago Fire player, is fast and an excellent dribbler.

He is one of the Project-40 players that MLS signed straight out of high school.

Project-40 is a joint-venture by MLS and the governing body of the game, US Soccer, which pays players to forego their college careers.

They earn salaries and are guaranteed a college education later in life.

European links have paid dividends.

O'Brien, a versatile midfielder who scored America's first goal against Portugal, quietly made 27 appearances for Ajax last season.

Nurnberg full-back Tony Sanneh is a Bundesliga veteran with Champions League experience when he played for Hertha Berlin.

Reyna, now 28, has in the past four years developed into a solid pro in Britain, first at Rangers and now with Sunderland.

Brad Friedel was man of the match in Blackburn's League Cup win over Tottenham this year, and he has been a steady hand between the sticks.

The United States are now regular combatants in the battles of international football.

They survived a very difficult CONCACAF qualifying group, playing before more than 100,000 fans at the Aztec Stadium against Mexico.

Many of the Americans have played in World Cups: Reyna, central defender Eddie Pope, winger Frankie Hejduk (Bayer Leverkusen) and Friedel among them.

Arena has included NAC Breda's Earnie Stewart and Los Angeles Galaxy veteran Cobi Jones.

He has been smart enough to test his players against Korea, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy, Germany, Mexico, and Ireland, in the build-up to the tournament.

The World Cup draw then did them a favour, letting them avoid Korea in the first game. The Korean players, running non-stop at 100 miles per hour, hit Poland like a typhoon.

The likes of Real Madrid star Luis Figo and his Portugal team-mates were clearly overconfident against the Americans in their first game.

Had they met last, Portugal might have been better prepared.

And lady luck smiled on the USA. Needing a draw against Poland to be assured of a second round appearance, they lost 3-1 but Portugal self-imploded with two players sent off and lost 1-0 to Korea.

Had Portugal claimed a draw, they and not the US would have played today.

America also have depth.

Arena was able to leave out Beasley and star striker Clint Mathis today for tactical reasons and replaced them with fresher players in Josh Wolff and Eddie Lewis.

He also replaced the banned Hejduk and injured Agoos with Gregg Berhalter and Pablo Mastroeni, respectively.

Much has been made about the lack of interest in the World Cup in America but the team believes they have support.

All of the American games are being broadcast live in the early morning hours.

"It's great for the sport in our country and hopefully it will continue to grow," said Reyna.

"With such great results, more people are hopefully watching us even though the kick-offs are so early in the morning.

"It's great and we definitely feel the support from fans all over the country back home.

"We are excited about it and hoping it can continue as long as possible, but we're enjoying the journey so far."

"We are a good team and we will prove we are a great team against Germany."

And lest we forget, win bonuses have provided some added incentive for the Americans.

Each player will reportedly earn 500,000 euros (£325,000) if they win the World Cup.