No Lightning Bolts for U.S. Soccer : Exhibition: Americans play to scoreless tie with Saudi Arabia. Klopas is benched in second half.

Bora Milutinovic continues to insist that increasingly skeptical observers of his U.S. soccer team should look at the big picture, and, considering that he is about to embark upon his third World Cup coaching campaign, perhaps his advice should be heeded.

It was, however, difficult to see anything other than the little picture at Rutgers University’s Yurcak Field, which on Wednesday featured two minnows swimming upstream for 90 minutes before time mercifully ran out on them. Energetic, yes. Fruitful, no.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, two World Cup longshots, played to a scoreless draw in an exhibition that probably will be remembered by the capacity crowd of 5,576 primarily for a period when play was halted.

Sitting in metal bleachers, the spectators were ordered to leave the small soccer/lacrosse stadium in the 72nd minute when a late afternoon thundershower was accompanied by lightning. Although many disobeyed, they at least were warned. As for the players, they retired to their dressing rooms until the game was resumed 23 minutes later.

For the Americans, the timing could not have been worse because they seemed to have taken charge from the start of the second half, which, not coincidentally, was also when Milutinovic inserted Tab Ramos into the midfield.

The surge no doubt was frustrating for striker Frank Klopas to watch from the bench. After scoring six goals in six games, he played the first 45 minutes Wednesday but touched the ball only twice as the United States failed to sustain a cohesive attack.

Ramos, however, guided the team forward, and although neither he nor his teammates could finish any of the chances created, the U.S. coaches left the game feeling optimistic about the offense.

The defense is another matter. After his team lost, 3-2, to Bayern Munich last Saturday, Milutinovic at least temporarily shelved a defense that featured five men in front of the goalkeeper for the more familiar four-man alignment. But the system apparently is not the culprit.

A lack of speed, experience and, occasionally, effort resulted in several scoring chances for Saudi Arabia. If the Saudis had been more skilled, or if goalkeeper Tony Meola had not played so well, the result certainly would have been a loss.

“When I think of Switzerland, I think of cheese and our defense in the last couple of games, and the analogy is there,” said Hank Steinbrecher, executive director of the U.S. Soccer Federation. “Our defense is porous.”

Switzerland is relevant because it is the United States’ first World Cup opponent, on June 18 in Pontiac, Mich. Only two exhibition games remain for the Americans to solve their problems, Saturday against Greece in New Haven, Conn., and June 4 against Mexico at the Rose Bowl.

“I’m hoping we can get better than this,” Ramos said. “We have to be at our top level to have any chance at all in the World Cup. We don’t have Saudi Arabia in our group.”

Milutinovic, however, continues to remind his players to be patient.

“For us, Saudi Arabia is not important,” he said. “What’s important is the game against Switzerland.”