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"I think you saw in the second half when we kind of pressed and imposed our game, they were the ones on their heels. They were the ones trying to hit us. They were the ones sweating and battling and fighting to track back," Gomez said. "So I think once we learn that we don't always have to be Mr. Nice Guy, and we could be a little nastier, like Jurgen said, we're going to be better off."
Klinsmann, a German who moved to California with his American-born wife after retiring as a player in 1998, said the U.S. team has to be more assertive with officials.
"You watch big teams in the world, what they do, and there's a call going against them -- Barcelona is one of them -- they come with 10 guys towards the referee," he said. "The referee is confused. He doesn't know, even know who to show a yellow card."
Donovan said "that's not really in our character as Americans."
"We try to play the game fair," Donovan said. "We don't really dive. We don't do those kind of things."
Brazil, which receives an automatic berth as the 2014 World Cup host, improved to 16-1 against the U.S. with a 35-11 goal difference.
"It's a promising team, but also it's a beatable team," Klinsmann said.
The Americans travel to Toronto for an exhibition against Canada on Sunday. The Americans play their opening World Cup qualifier against Antigua and Barbuda on June 8 at Tampa, Fla., then have their first road qualifier four days later at Guatemala.
Gomez may have put himself in position to start in the qualifiers along with Jozy Altidore, who only reported Monday.
"I think we found a striker that is very mobile with Herculez, one that is a fighter, that keeps defenders busy," Klinsmann said, "that is also nasty to do certain things."
NOTES: A game after the U.S. debuted new home jerseys with red and white horizontal stripes and gray numbers that couldn't be seen from a distance, Nike switched to larger dots that were more visible. ... Klinsmann said the team will play at Mexico on the Aug. 15 exhibition date and at Russia on the Nov. 14 date.
[Associated Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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