No stopping big-game Bale! USMNT winners, losers & ratings as Wales answer Weah's World Cup goal

For much of Monday's World Cup opener, the USMNT's young stars shined bright as could be. If the players were nervous, they didn't show it. They played like a team determined, a team more than ready for an occasion that many thought would be overwhelmed.

It never did. The Stars and Stripes never were overmatched and certainly weren't outplayed, but they dropped points anyway. So it goes at a World Cup.

And so it goes when the other team has Gareth Bale, a man for the big occasion. There are no events bigger than a World Cup, so of course Bale would make his mark.

He erased Tim Weah's first-half opener and, more importantly, erased a USMNT performance that could be categorized as dominant.

Domination doesn't equal points, though, a lesson the young USMNT learned on Monday night.