The United States Men's National Team ended 2014 on a low note as they slumped to a 4-1 defeat on Tuesday against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin. USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann put out a much-changed starting XI from the one who lost to Colombia on Friday, and the weakened side were well-beaten by the team ranked 61st in the world.

Both teams started weakened sides as some MLS players returned to their clubs for the Conference Finals and Ireland looked to regroup from a difficult loss to Scotland in European Championship Qualifying. For the Americans the changed XI showed especially, as they looked very poor in defense. Klinsmann will take heart from the fact that it is the end of a long domestic campaign for Matt Besler and that he was missing both Omar Gonzalez and DeAndre Yedlin.

It was a terrific result for the Irish, and continues their fantastic run of form lately. They are currently joint second in their Euro qualifying group on seven points, and in their last five matches have beaten Georgia away, Gibraltar and the US while picking up an away point in Germany. 

The result leaves both teams in very different places. The US have yet to announce their next scheduled friendly, but it is expected there will be several before the 2015 Gold Cup takes place next summer. The Yanks will enter that one as defending champions, and should they defend their title they will guarantee themselves a place at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Klinsmann will have to look to right the ship as they head into next summer, and the first thing to do will be settling on how he wants the back four to operate.

Meanwhile, Ireland will be able to carry momentum from this one on into their European Championship Qualifying campaign. In spite of the disappointing away loss to Scotland, they are in a promising position to qualify. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the tournament while the third place team will go into a knockout playoff round. Ireland will face their next qualifier at the end of March when they will host table-topping Poland who lead their group with 10 points. If they can continue to play like they have of late, there is no reason why they can't qualify for France 2016.

Key Moments

7' GOAL! A poor giveaway from the US sends Ireland away on the break, and David McGoldrick plays in Anthony Pilkington! Pilkington is in on US keeper Bill Hamid, and the Cardiff City midfielder lobs the keeper to open the scoring.

22' OFF THE POST! Alejandro Bedoya plays a short corner to Fabian Johnson, who steadies himself and unleashes a daisy-clipper that clips the post as it goes wide.

27' SAVE! Bill Hamid to the rescue! A ball over the top should be cleared by both Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler but they don't clear it, and it falls to Daryl Murphy. The striker should beat Hamid but the DC United man does well to turn it behind.

39' GOAL! And there is the equalizer! The US have had a little period of dominance and they manage to equalize. Jozy Altidore picks up the ball on the edge of the box and he clips a cross onto the head of Chris Wondolowski who nods the ball down to Mix Diskerud and the Rosenborg man stabs the ball into the net.

43' OFF THE BAR! Jozy Altidore puts the ball right off the bar and back out into the mixer! Bedoya played a fantastic ball across the box and the Sunderland striker hit a rocket that ricocheted back off the bar.

55' GOAL! McGoldrick plays the creator again setting up Robbie Brady for his first of the night. Johnson attempted to work out of a double team and gave the ball away cheaply before McGoldrick played in Brady who beat Hamid from point blank range.

67' SAVE! What a fantastic stop from Shay Given! Bobby Wood is played in over the top, and he nearly curls a ball around the Ireland shot-stopper. Given gets a shin out and just redirects the ball out around the post.

81' SAVE! Stanford student and national team debutant Jordan Morris picks out a great pass to Greg Garza but the left back's shot is well saved by Given again.

82' GOAL! Just seconds after a sublime run from Shane Long culminated in his hitting the post, James McClean has a strike deflected in off Cameron. He looked at fault there, missed the clearance that led to the ball falling to McClean.

86' GOAL! And there is Brady's second! He takes a fantastic costless kick and curls a beauty into the top corner. Top class. Game over.