Spain and Paraguay won, thus completing the quarterfinals, and also setting up a statistic that has the USA rather shamed: of the eight group winners, only one failed to advance to the quarterfinals. Take a bow, America – we’re special!

This got me thinking about what needs to happen between now and Brazil 2014 – besides the USA successfully qualifying again, of course – for the Americans to be in the quarterfinals and beyond. Here’s my top five things:

1. Tim Howard has to stay healthy and stay effective.

Howard will be 35 by the time the next World Cup rolls around, but right now, the crystal ball says that’s all we’ve got. Brad Guzan may challenge for that spot, but first he has to get a few games at Aston Villa (or elsewhere) to prove that he’s actually got what it takes. Brad Friedel at Villa retired from the national team early, but he’s still getting it done in England at age 39, so – as long as he stays healthy – I see no reason that Howard can’t be back in 2014, if he wants to be.

2. Jozy Altidore has to learn to be a real striker.

He’s shown flashes, of course – the hat trick in qualifying springs to mind – and he’s just 20. And yet, Eddie Johnson was just 20 at one point, too, and so was DaMarcus Beasley. Altidore hasn’t showed any real nose for goal for his club teams, either, scoring just once in 28 games at Hull City last year.

An American striker hasn’t scored at the World Cup since Brian McBride in 2002, and apart from the goal-poaching ability of Herculez Gomez and possible developments on the Edson Buddle front, the cupboard is looking a bit bare beyond Altidore. America needs a legitimate threat up front; it can’t continue to count on Landon Donovan, grit, and shinned-in goals from corner kicks to score.

3. The team needs to develop, or possibly adopt, some new defenders.

Like the American defense, I’m at a loss, and have no idea what to do at the back of the team. All of the American defenders are the wrong side of 30 (Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo) or demonstrably useless (Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson, Heath Pearce, Chad Marshall). The jury’s still somewhat out on Oguchi Onyewu, but he had horrible World Cups in 2006 and 2010, and still is mostly living off his manhandling of Jared Borgetti six years ago.

I guess the only hope is that the USA can cobble together four mediocre defenders and somehow teach them to be a disciplined unit. Failing that, I say we forcibly naturalize young defenders from other countries.

4. The team needs to hire a new coach.

If you want a summary, there’s two easy words that can explain this: Ricardo Clark. He wasn’t exactly working with top-notch clay all of the time, but Bob Bradley has a record of curious and confusing team selection, which has been combined with some underachieving from his team, which means it’s probably time for the end of the Bradley era. The Americans made a mistake by letting Bruce Arena hang on until 2006 after his success in 2002; the country may be better off this time by moving on to a new coach for the next four-year cycle, rather than letting the current one stick around too long.

If they could get a coach that begins with discipline and tactical acumen, it’d go a long way towards solving problem #3, too.

5. Somebody besides Landon Donovan needs to step up as a world-class outfield player.

I’ve spent plenty of time criticizing Donovan, but he’s truly the best non-goalkeeper this country has ever produced. That said, he’s currently the only one at that level. Clint Dempsey probably won’t get there, nor will some of the other old hands (DeMarcus Beasley comes to mind), but the USA needs more players who, on any given day, can step up and be a force. Michael Bradley may be the team’s best hope. Some other young midfielders – Benny Feilhaber, Jose Torres, Sacha Kljestan, Maurice Edu – have shown very occasional flashes of being special, as well.

Donovan went through his lost-in-the woods period around the 2006 World Cup. We can only hope that one of those other players, or Altidore, or someone else, can step up in 2014.