ATLANTA—It would be easy to go overboard and read too much into a loss like the 2-1 defeat the United States national team suffered against Jamaica Tuesday night in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. 

While disappointing to the U.S. and its fans, it also can’t be ignored that the Americans outplayed Jamaica much of the night and that even with the awful five minutes that led to the Reggae Boyz’ two goals, with better finishing the U.S. still wins this game. 

The irony, of course, is that the U.S. went 2-0-1 in the group stage of the Gold Cup, and also won a pair of recent friendlies over Germany and the Netherlands after getting outplayed for long stretches of those games. Tonight the Yanks outshot and outpossessed Jamaica and still came away with a loss. 

Fickle, those soccer gods.... To the ratings!

STARTERS 

BRAD GUZAN—Not his best night. Not much he could have done on the first Jamaica goal and the hand-ball call, while letter-of-the-law correct, is rarely called so that’s not all his fault. Still, it is a rule and one he broke. More telling, he got beat near-post on the ensuing free kick and his distribution was poor several times. Rating: 4.5

FABIAN JOHNSON—Strong on both sides of the field, he broke up several Jamaican attacks at left back then pushed forward consistently. Forced a nice save in the 16th minute and hit a nice free kick that almost spilled to Johannsson in the second half. Rating: 7.5

CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR U.S. PLAYER RATINGS

JOHN BROOKS—Picked a bad night for his mental lapse bugaboos to return, as he was slow to react to a long throw-in to the box that left Darren Mattocks wide open for the first goal. Also had some sloppy, unforced giveaways in the second half when the U.S. badly needed possession. Rating: 4

VENTURA ALVARADO—Wasn’t at fault on either goal and made no huge glaring mistakes like he did in the group stage. Made a couple of nice tackles in the first half, but still doesn’t look completely comfortable at this level. Rating: 5

BRAD EVANS—Solid defensively with a couple of nice runs in the second half and generally supported the attack well. Rating: 5.5

KYLE BECKERMAN—Clogged the middle and served as an outlet to help the U.S. maintain possession, though he did have a glaringly bad turnover late in the first half that could have been dangerous. Won several loose balls despite carrying an early yellow but also nearly got a second when he attempted to foul to break-up a Jamaican attack only to have the defender shrug off the challenge. Rating: 5

ALEJANDRO BEDOYA—Combined well with Johnson and the forwards to help create several chances, though none of them led to a goal. Also did his share of work defensively. Rating: 5.5

MICHAEL BRADLEY—Scored one goal and hit the woodwork with an absolute blast that nearly tied the game and yet it’s hard not to think he could have done more as several of his passes were off the mark. Rating: 6

GYASI ZARDES—Nice ball movement and defensive work, he consistently showed for the ball and cut in from the right flank to create chances. But is finishing was poor and he should have converted a chance in the 67th minute. Rating: 5.5

CLINT DEMPSEY—Was consistently dangerous and very active, showing for the ball and creating chances by combining well. That said, Deuce went for too many home run balls that went awry and ended U.S. possessions. Rating: 6

ARON JOHANNSSON—Another one who played well yet left you wanting more to show for it. Really good hold-up and combination play most of the night and he almost poached a goal in the 28th minute with pressure on the Jamaican goalkeeper. Still, his finishing was subpar and he skied a chance to tie the game when he was open in the second half. Rating: 6

RESERVES

MIX DISKERUD—On for Beckerman, he didn’t add much but had excellent one-v-one defending in the 83rd minute as the U.S. safety valve to snuff out a Jamaican counterattack. Rating: 5.5

ALAN GORDON—Was unable to duplicate his L.A. Galaxy super-sub success as he failed to score in just his second career cap. Got one good chance but his volley went straight to the Jamaican goalkeeper and he had a heavy touch for a turnover minutes later. Ratings: 5.5

DEANDRE YEDLIN—Brought on to use his prodigious pace and run at tired defenders, Yedlin didn’t see enough of the ball and his most probing run ended with a no-call that probably should have drawn a free kick. Took one for the team when he drew a yellow after a tackle that broke up a breakaway with the U.S. pushing numbers forward. Rating: 5.5

COACH

JURGEN KLINSMANN—His decision to not start Omar Gonzalez, who has played four straight U.S. games with a shut out, didn't pan out when Brooks made a key error. But that's the only major tactictal quibble, as the U.S. actually played well and it's not Klinsman's fault the finiishing was off. Could likely fault him for keeping four at the back when the U.S. needed a goal and the subs could have come earlier, but those aren't huge gaffes. There are fair questions that need to be asked of Klinsmann and the direction the program is going under his watch, but this night's loss wasn't really a byproduct of much he did. At the same time, he's the only U.S. coach to have lost to Jamaica, and he's done it twice now. Rating: 5.5 

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.