Bob Bradley is learning fast.

Not long ago he was dismissed as a temporary fix, a second prize for a jilted bride.

Yet in the penultimate game of an action-packed 2007 for the US, his team showed they had begun to master an important lesson in soccer - win when you are playing badly.

The clump of US students massed behind one goal sang and drummed cheerfully throughout, but their noise was nothing to compare to the crescendo of boos from the home fans at the end of each half. Their displeasure was music to the ears of US soccer supporters, having bagged a late winner.

At the final whistle and the press conference, Bradley never raised a smile, but you can be sure he was relieved to have beaten the US bugbear of not winning on European soil. Bruce Arena managed it twice against Poland and Steve Sampson once against Austria, but otherwise the continent where soccer began has been a barren hunting ground for America.

In retrospect, the cancellation of the Catalonia friendly was a boon, allowing Bradley to cement his personality and ideas on a roster composed of old timers, regulars and fresh faces.

"The advantage of having a week together was that we don't often get the time with our European-based players," he explained.

"Just being together, in a quiet place, Iverdon-les-Bains, which was beautiful, gave us the chance to work on the field and to spend time talking about some things. We also had a mix between European-based players who have been in the team and some young European-based players that have been in for the first time."

After a week of bonding amidst the Alps, the US looked solid, if uninspiring last night. And if you do the basics right and keep a clean sheet, you are halfway to being a winning team.

What made the US win more impressive was that the Swiss were the better team on the night. Forget the loopy FIFA World Rankings which placed them 24 placed below us at start of play.

The Euro 2008 joint hosts had a more fluid formation than the States, and like most European nations were quick to the ball and quicker to the counter. They had pace throughout the team, with David Degen on the right wing a particular test of the US defensive mettle. Fortunately, our backline was on song.

Captain Ludovic Magnin stood out as a wingback ready to join the attack at a split-second's notice, as did his right flank counterpart Stephan Lichtsteiner.

The Basel press had made much of the threat of left-sided midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta in the build-up to the game.

The pacy 22-year old is regarded as the Swiss' bright hope for a raid on the European Championship next summer, and has allegedly already attracted the interest of Arsenal and others. Barnetta displayed some moments of danger, but fortunately lived up to his first name for most of the game.

What went wrong for Köbi Kuhn's men was a dearth of desire when they failed to break down the American wall in front of them.

True, they missed top marksman Alexander Frei and others through injury - Blaise Nkufo was a poor replacement as center forward, but credit must go to a US eleven which never lost their shape or commitment. It was dogged defending which earned the US a clean sheet and an attack which never gave up hope that earned them the win.

Bradley's men could easily have played out the final minutes to settle for a creditable tie, but kept pressing upfield moments before and after scoring.

Sure, there are cracks papered over by the result. A 0-0 scoreline would have had us wondering why we can't win in Europe again. The Swiss could well have snuck a goal too.

Maurice Edu had MLS plastered over him as, in his first European outing, he was frequently beaten to 50-50 balls, under hit passes or was robbed of possession before getting booked. Taylor Twellman chased the ball more than he ran with it and DaMarcus Beasley had a below-par night in what has been an above average season for him.

His curiously muted half hour began when he turned the wrong way to salute the flag at the start before Twellman comically spun him around to face the same way as the rest of the team.

The Swiss goal was rarely under threat and Lewis' blast apart, there were no dangerous American shots on target.

But a win is a win is a win. You could tell that by the way the US bench invaded the field at the end, celebrating as if they had won a World Cup game.

Goal scorer Michael Bradley also spoke of 'coming away with the three points', a reflex reaction to a hard-fought contest.

During the week, US skipper Carlos Bocanegra had spoken of the need to start winning on the continent and for the coach, the confidence boost of doing just that will be immense.

"Yes, this year the work has been good and we have been improving," said Bradley.

"This was our second game in Europe and we need these kind of games. Against Sweden, we felt that the first half was solid, but the second half was disappointing. So the goal tonight was to pick up on the first half and understand that the tempo of these games is sometimes different, the commitment of the other team in terms of every physical challenge. Head balls, every tackle - these are things that we must understand are important and be able to sustain for the 90 minutes."

Learning to beat European nations is key to US advancement as a soccer nation. And it does not matter how you win as long as you do. There are no marks for artistic impression in the Beautiful Game, just the harsh truth of the final box score.

And every win builds confidence, perhaps the most potent weapon for winning at any level of soccer.