IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN. A bad loss, and the talking ramps up.

More Jurgen Klinsmann quotes, more breathless reactions.

My turn now.

Watching U.S. national team games, including the Americans' contest against Chile on Wednesday afternoon, reminds me of when I watch professional wrestling.

(Please don’t give up on my analogy yet. I love pro wrestling, I’ve been watching it my whole life. Seriously—quit laughing.)

As I've gotten older, I eventually realized the things that once kept me invested in professional wrestling no longer retain my interest. For Klinsmann, in the beginning, it was the international prestige and name recognition, then the recruiting of high-value dual nationals, and, at times, scrappy coachmanship (you laughed at Alan Gordon/Eddie Johnson call-ups, didn’t you?) that earned him a pass.

It was the results too, an impressive string to be honest, but now those "high spots" aren’t "popping" me like they used to (that's wrestling lingo, by the way.) With a 3-2 loss to Chile the team is now winless in its last nine, with a minus-nine goal differential in the second half of games over the same span. ANd the coach contends that fitness is the issue? Klinsmann is coming off as remarkably tone deaf in his explanations.

Have we seen all the tricks? Is there any substance to Jurgen the egoist? Or much like the pulled punches and contrived storylines of WWE, is this all part of the illusion? Whatever the issue, I’m growing more and more suspicious as I watch this team. I approach each match unsure of the team's ability and leadership, and am increasingly doubtful that a positive result is in the cards regardless of opponent.

Right now, I don’t believe that we will win.

And now, some player updates...

News flash: “ArJo” is never, ever going to happen as a nickname for Aron Johannsson—(ASN #10). "Iceman," however, is perfect. First off, Iceland. Second, he kind of looks like Val Kilmer in Top Gun. Boom. Onto the action: In the 9th minute, Johannsson grabbed his third goal of the season with a clever flick on the goal line. AZ Alkmaar took the match 3-1 against Heracles Almelo, moving into fifth place in the Eredivisie.

How many American center backs—or left backs for that matter—are more consistent or versatile than Tim Ream (ASN #20)? For whatever reason, some players seem to be "programmatic non-fits" but now that Lee Nguyen has finally made his way into the national team picture, Ream is nearing the top of the Underrated Americans master list. Coming in at No. 20 on the ASN 100, I had him top 12 on my personal ballot.

Guess what? On Tuesday night, Tim Ream made 11 interceptions in a match against Rotherdam—the most of any Championship match this season, according to whoscored.com. Also: On Saturday, Ream played 90 minutes and was credited with an assist in a 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton. Why would you ever doubt my (decidedly non-) analytical prowess?

Now that the 17-year-old Gedion Zelalem (ASN #85) has debuted on the ASN 100, I can finally start reporting on Premier League reserve squads. This is very exciting because Americans actually play on these teams. I know, it’s a pretty wild, far-out concept—but bear with me.

This includes Liverpool’s Marc Pelosi and Tottenham’s Cameron Carter-Vickers, both ASN 100 debutants this month. Zelalem can’t play for the U.S. until March cause of some immigration thing or something. Read all about it and remember that the U-20 World Cup doesn't start until May 30.

Clearly following up on my scathing assessment of Julian Green (ASN #29) last week, the folks at ESPN caught up with Green, who has str-UGH-gled since since arriving at Hamburg on loan from Bayern Munich, playing a grand total of 111 minutes this season. (This includes zero starts and no playing time since late November.) Hopeful to get back into the team sheet during the Winter break, Green did feature last week in a friendly versus Danish club Odense but could not even crack the game day roster in a 2-0 loss to Koln on Saturday.

With the second half of the Bundesliga campaign underway, Hamburg sit in the relegation zone but remain just two points from safety. Check out this line: 18 matches played, 17 points, 9 goals. That’s half as many as the next lowest total. Honestly, how is that even possible?

DEADLINE DAY

Sacha Kljestan—(ASN #29): The 'stache is coming home!

Despite rampant speculation, Alejandro Bedoya—(ASN #4) re-signed with Ligue 1 outfit Nantes on Monday, a deal which will keep him with the Canaries until the 2017 season. Left standing as one of the very few Americans in top flight European competition, Bedoya was a late substitute for Nantes in a 1-1 draw with Lille this weekend. Here’s a recent interview with Bedoya published on the Ligue 1 website.

Bobby Wood—(ASN #70) Firmly in the doghouse for Munich 1860 in recent weeks, the 22-year-old returned to Germany from national team duty on Monday, just in time to complete a deadline day move to 2.Bundesliga basement-dwellers [looks at spelling four different times] Erzgebirge Aue. It might sound bad, but the club currently sits has 14 points through 19 matches—OK, never mind, it both sounds and looks bad. Still, only three points from safety, so there’s that.

The club does have a fascinating history, however, running in concert with the various machinations of post-war East Germany. This means, of course, that the club was named after Karl Marx for an extended period of time. Not interesting: the name is translated in English as “Ore Mountains” and the club nickname is Veilchen, German for viola.

RAPID FIRE

After coming back and then—OOPS!—admitting he probably came back too early, it looks like Joe Gyau (ASN #53) will be forced to undergo another surgery on a torn meniscus he suffered in October. The procedure will likely end Gyau’s season with Dortmund. Quick! Name a left-sided American midfielder you’re comfortable with not named Fabian Johnson…

Emerson Hyndman (ASN #39) broke his collarbone against El Salvador and could miss up to six weeks of action.

ASN Contributing Editor Josh Deaver is a former academic turned soccer obsessive. Follow him on Twitter.