A NEW FORMATION provided glimpses of first half hope but a return to a familiar one in the second half led to an equally familiar result as the United States national team kicked off its 2015 campaign with a disappointing 3-2 road loss to Chile in an international friendly in Rancagua.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann began the match experimenting with a 3-5-2 formation, with usual defensive midfielder Jermaine Jones between Matt Besler and debutant Steve Birnbaum in the backline.

The formation paid immediate dividends and allowed the Americans to create several chances, two of which led to goals and allowed them to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half, however, the U.S. curiously returned to its traditional 4-4-2. Despite the extra man on the backline, the team found itself under siege as the midfield was consistently outmanned by the Chileans, who scored twice. The loss was the third straight for the U.S. dating back to last year. The squad is winless in five straight friendlies after beating the Czech Republic in September.

The match started well enough for the U.S. in the sixth minute as Brek Shea, back from purgatory in England where playing time proved sparse, showed why Klinsmann continues to give him chances. Lining up at left mid, Shea ran on to a sweet ball from Besler that put him behind Chile’s backline. He one-timed a diagonal shot that made it 1-0.

The lead was short-lived as a lack of familiarity with their new roles appeared to lead to a defensive breakdown that allowed Roberto Gutierrez to sneak between Jones and Besler and hit an unmarked header. Nick Rimando had no chance to make the save.

In the 14th minute DeAndre Yedlin, who began the game as a right mid, got behind the defense and hit a nice low cross that was begging for someone to one-time it home but it just eluded Bobby Wood.

A bright spot for the U.S. was a good showing by Jozy Altidore, who recently joined Toronto FC after struggling to score for Sunderland in the English Premier League. Altidore was active, tracking back to show for the ball, and doing all the things asked for of a target forward. He earned his reward in the 31st minute when Mix Diskerud worked a give-and-go with Yedlin in traffic on the right flank, picked up his head and found Altidore, who sent a one-time a finish to the left corner to make it 2-1.

The U.S. had other chances; Jones nodded a Bradley free kick just high and Altidore was dropped just outside the box after a nice run by Dempsey.

But Altidore’s goal was the highwater mark for the U.S., which was lucky to go into halftime with the lead after Diego Valdes stripped Jones in the 37th minute and was 1-v-1 on Rimando. The Real Salt Lake goalkeeper stood his ground, got his left hand on Valdes’ shot, and parried it wide.

In the second half Lee Nguyen replaced an ineffective Wood, with Clint Dempsey moving from midfield to forward and Nguyen slotting in behind the front-runners. But Klinsmann abandoned the 3-5-2 and had Yedlin and Shea move to fullback spots outside Besler and Birnbaum—who was mostly solid in his first cap—with Jones moving back to midfield.

The ploy failed. Minus an extra man in midfield, the U.S. failed to hold the ball as well and was forced to defend most of the half, though Bradley almost made it 3-1 in the 62nd minute when his shot form outside the box hit woodwork.

After a U.S. turnover in the 66th minute Yedlin lost his runner, World Cup veteran Mark Gonzalez, who got behind the Tottenham signing and rifled a shot past Rimando to tie the game.

The winner came shortly after. In the 75th minute, Rimando made a sprawling save off a Marco Medel shot but the rebound fell right to Gonzalez and he left no doubt.

Going back to the World Cup last summer, the Americans have blown leads against Ghana, Portugal, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and now Chile.

The U.S. had a couple of chances to tie—a Nguyen shot in the 77th minute was just wide and Gyasi Zardes, who along with Wil Trapp made his national team debut in the second half, had a late chance blocked by a lunging save from a Chilean defender.

The U.S. will try and snap its winless Feb. 8 when it hosts Panama at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

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