SAO PAULO -- The day after the United States was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann insisted that he believed his team could win the tournament -- even though he said the opposite before the competition began.

"Saying that we come into this World Cup to win it is just not right, because you would raise the expectations through the moon," Klinsmann told reporters on Wednesday afternoon, a day after his team suffered a 2-1 loss to Belgium.

"Is it possible to get through that group? Yes, because we did it," the coach said of a brutal quartet that also included Germany, Portugal and Ghana -- arguably the toughest among the eight groups in Brazil.

Jurgen Klinsmann said on Wednesday the United States has the ability to string together four wins in a knockout stage to win a World Cup. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

"Is it possible now to go game-by-game and maybe even win four knockout games? Yes," said Klinsmann, noting that unfancied Greece won the European Championship in 2004.

"But you can't go in saying we're here to win the World Cup when you have teams like Brazil, Germany and all the big countries in there. I think you have to take it just one step at a time."

Klinsmann touched on other matters on break-up day after most his players had scattered, heading for flights back to the U.S. or Europe, where several of them are based.

"The good thing about going into the next year is we have the opportunity to see a lot of young players coming into the senior team and we can give them time to show where they're at," Klinsmann said.