COPA AMERICA: Argentina 4, USA 1

A beautiful first half, then a bloodbath.

The U.S. national team played tough, solid defense and stayed right with Argentina in the first half but slowly fell apart in the second half as Argentina began finding the cracks in the American defense en route to a 4-1 victory in Copa America action on Thursday.

So what went wrong? Trouble began when Ben Olsen left the match due to fatigue and Eddie Gaven came into the match. Gaven's poor workrate helped spring Lionel Messi to set up Argentina's go-ahead goal. Marvell Wynne followed by getting lazy on a play on the wing, which gave Gabriel Heinze enough room to deliver a perfect cross to a cutting Juan Pablo Aimar to make the score 3-1.

Carlos Tevez sealed the match with a well-timed run that beat the U.S. team's offside trap followed by a beautiful finish to make the final score 4-1.

What did you think of the result? Are you angry, Was the first half promising enough for you to come away somewhat pleased? Do you want Bob Bradley fired (If you do you need to calm down)? Share your thoughts on the match below.

Comments

[shaj]

this is why we needed pekerman =]
we couldn't sustain our superhuman pressure in the second half. and then He Who Shall Not Be Named came on the pitch.

[Joamiq]

OK, gonna try to be... what's that thing I never am... oh yeah, concise:

Whoa, that's a lot more Wynne hating than I expected! Are his positioning and timing still slow? Yes. Were his recovery skills surprisingly effective against a world class attack tonight? Yes. He made some costly mistakes and he's got a looong way to go, but I don't think he exactly played his way out of consideration.

I watched the game with a bunch of people, some US soccer hardcores, some newbies. Even the newbs remarked that EJ looked oddly hesitant. Does no one on the coaching staff ever tell him to be assertive? In any case, he should not play much more in this tournament.

I've thought this for a long time, and I have to say it now: Keller is done.

Overall, we should be proud of most of the game. Argentina did what great teams do: they took full advantage of their chances. We have to learn to be a little more alert - we can't give teams like that an inch. But despite the scoreline, I didn't think we totally embarrassed ourselves. Rather, I think that our A team would have made this a very close game.

Twellman was useless. We need to see if Davies can be creative. Gomez didn't do much either, but he needs a little more time.

Feilhaber should be our primary free kick taker always. He is becoming one of our best players.

Eddie Gaven should be sent back to the Crew bench immediately.

I want to see Nguyen even if he is not fit.

I think there are plenty of positives to take out of this match. Now, I'm just looking forward. We can definitely still earn the points we need to advance. We should be confident.

[stevo]

I guess the 'bunker' soccer style doesn't work, out of COCACAF.

[Mike]

That game did not reflect well on the overall solid effort put out by a team I wouldn't even consider the US "B" team. The Olsen substitution changed that match completely. Without his engine, the fire went right out of our bellies. I remain unimpressed with EJ at this level. He rarely tries to take guys on and as Ives has pointed out, he loves to play useless balls backwards too often. Of course, Gomez was completely invisible when he came on. Why didn't Charlie get a sniff?

Overall, thumbs up to Bornstein, Olsen, Mapp, Clark, Feilhaber, Conrad, and DeMerit.

Keller gets a pass, not much he could do on any (except maybe the first- he needed to take charge there a bit more. That ball landed on the 6!)

The rest of that lot were downright aweful. If Gaven never pulls on the shirt again, I won't be diappointed.

[cbr]

Gaven...have you seriously seen a young player with less heart and less drive than him? you'd figure that playing with Frankie Hejduk he'll learn a thing or two about heart and hustle

[Jimbo]

I will repeat what I said before:

This is the U.S.’s B/C team. This team actually did well up until the 20th min. of the second half. Poor substations made this game what it was. Fatigue set in and players lost concentration. It would have been very interesting to see the Gold Cup team play against Argentina, because the B/C team held up pretty darn well until near the end. This game probably will give Bradley more experience as a coach as well. He did not manage this game that well.

[Kim Jong-il Hater]

The Argentinians are dirty floppers! That first free kick which led to the Crespo goal was ridiculous! RIQUELME TRIPPED OVER THE BALL!!! Keller was a fraction off that ball before Crespo hit it in. Overall, I was happy. Although the defense was awful in the second half, they stuck with them for most of the match. Considering this was the US B team going up against a full strength Argentinian team, I was pretty happy. If the US had a full squad it probably would have been a draw.

[fcphillyboy19]

I've been reading a lot of mixed review on Mapp. I think he has a lot of skill but have yet to see a top notch performance from him. I think Beasley has nothing to worry about and if Convey was healthy he would put both to shame.

Monday we need to see a better performance over the course of the game, and Bob needs to manage the game a lot better.

[Jon]

I don't see the point in getting the young guys this type of experience. By the 85th minute, most of them were standing around--had given up. Not sure how that builds character.

Let's bring our best to the Copa. Or at least the best guys who are willing.

On the + side of the coin: great 1st half. More +: maybe Paraguay will let down after a 5-0 shellacking of Columbia.
- side: maybe they won't.

[Sean]

I, too, thought the inclusion of Gaven proved to be a mistake. I hope his play improves to the point where he is worthy or earning a national team call-up. I wanted to see more goals by Argentina because I think the U.S. needs another reality check to get everyone from youth leagues all the way to MLS and US Soccer on the same page about how we must start developing world class players.

We can longer simply train our players to 'kick it in the danger area'. We have to teach them how to make runs and create opportunities rather than hope for the best. We need to eliminate all the backwards passing that allows opponents to settle into defensive positions - once they settle in, we are stuck trying to 'hope' for a one-on-one mistake by a defender.

Before the game, I was happy we brought a young, untested club. But, not sure about it now. I'm embarrassed. The fact that our only goal came on a PK is a testament to how pathetic we were.

[chris]

I agree that its time for Keller to go. Bornstein and Feilhaber had moments of brilliance. Everyone else was average or sucked badly (i.e. Twellman)

[Bill]

Not really angry. Sort of expected something like this. They held on well and could have done better, but as soon as Argie's second goal went in I expected the flood gates to open.

Positives:
- Bornstein's first half - did great job on Messi.
- good defensive shape in the first half, as a team. Didn't allow significant penetration into Argie's defensive third.
- DeMerit and Conrad were relatively solid as a pairing.
- Olsen had a good game, overall. He did yeoman work breaking up and covering attacks down the flank. He bailed out Wynne on several occasions.

Negatives:
- Twellman & Mapp were often invisible and overwhelmingly ineffective.
- EJ can't do anything unless he's given a ball to run on to -- and even then it's a high probability he'll squander the opportunity.
- Wynne's not ready for this level. Really poor positioning.
- Keller's distribution -- jump balls galore. I suspect that maybe this was part of the overarching game plan.

Other:
- Gaven's getting a shellacking over on BS. He didn't have a good game, obviously, but I think he was put in a very poor position coming on when he did.
- No more Twellman for a while, please.

[Connor]

It almost seems as if Gaven doesn't want to play for the Nats. When he gets on the field he hides away from the play and does as little as possible. It's a huge disappointment to see how he turned out.

[max]

The boys played really well. The game slipped away from them the last half an hour, as Argentina seemed to invoke an Ali-esque rope-a-dope.

I thought Johnson, despite some of the comments played well. He could have been a bit more active and aggressive, but he is by far are best option at front. His pace created the penalty. He needs to improve, but compared to Twellman he is world class.

I thought one thing that hurt us was set pieces. Argentina's first goal was created on a bungled offside trap. We also had little clue about what to do on our set pieces. But they did only have a practice or two.

Overall solid effort by all, especially the backline. Lets take one against Paraguay or Colombia and move on.

[Steve]

I'm really proud of the kids. They played beautifully in the first 60 minutes. Good job by Bradley in preparing them on a short turnaround. Very happy with DeMerrit, Bornstein and Conrad. Wynne showed skill and inexperience. I wish Bradley had chosen Ching for the roster and sent Twellman back to the Revs.
I think either Reis, Guzan, or Howard would have limited the Argentines to 2 or 3 goals. Keller isn't washed up yet, but he won't be useful in South Africa, so lets move on.

[Sg]

did anyone see mapp try to take zanetti on one-on-one? zanetti effortlessly took the ball away. someone should tell him trying to kicking the ball and running onto it isn't going to work against players of his quality.

players like gomez, keller, and gaven should not be on the team when there's about a 0% chance they're going to be in the 2010 world cup. why waste the oppurtunity?

[northzax]

I don't think we can blame Bradley for game management, really. We just don't have the depth to compete against a team like Argentina who can bring on Tevez (Tevez, sub!) this team especially is too shallow, I mean when Benny Olsen was exhausted from carrying the midfield, who was he supposed to turn to? there was no one of his class on the bench (and that's not really saying much) We gave it a run, but the new guys especially simply aren't ready for prime time.

That said, the first half team did nothing to embarass us. we showed that we can hang, for a while, with the best. now we need to get a deeper and wider talent pool (luckily the u-20s look decent a bit) and find ourselves a Crespo, and we'll be ok. this was a good reality check, now let's see what bob has in mind for Monday...

[Bill]

I'm having trouble remembering: was the Olsen/Gaven switch made before or after the Cambiasso/Aimar switch? If after, then I think that's some really crappy substituting by Bradley. Unless Olsen was so obviously spent and/or injured. Even then, though, you need to go with a more defensive minded sub, particularly with a rickety Wynne in the back.

[Nick]

The Gaven sub was a devastator. Actually, having him on the roster at all was a devastator...

[mark]

i came away feeling a lot better about this game than i thought i would before the match. The first half was great. In the second half the fatigue of the US started to show and the skill of Argentina started to exploit the openings left by tired players.

I would like to see Eddie Johnson have more confidence to run at defenders rather than pull up and wait for help. Gaven's lack of energy was quite evident. Twellman is not the answer for the US to score goals...i'm not sure who is...but it sure isn't twellman.

Under most circumstances I think if the US got beat 4-1 it would be horrble. In this case I didn't walk away feeling too bad about it. They played head to head with one of the best teams in the world for about 60 minutes...then the wheels fell off and the better team took over.

[kenobi]

Argentina subs: Pablo Aimar, Carlos Tevez, Fernando Gago.

USA subs: Eddie Gaven, Herculez Gomez, Kyle Beckerman.

That pretty much says it all right there. It's no coincidence Argentina scored 3 of their 4 goals after the subs started.

[Michael]

Yeah, we probably lose the match regardless of whether Gaven comes on, but he certainly sped up the process. I thought 4-1 was harsh, I though the first half was about as well as I have ever seen the US play tactically. Other than the goal, which was down to shoddy set-piece defending, Argentina did not create much except for Veron's shot, which came as a result of not being able to break us down. And if EJ had any balls to go with his speed, we might have nicked another goal. When we actually had the ball, we moved it around pretty well.

But it did all come down to Gaven for me. I accept taking Olsen off as he looked tired, but I would have preferred Beckerman. I thought the ten minutes or so that he played, he looked really good. He was composed on the ball and he distributed it well. As much as we kind of faded in the end, we still did not give up many scoring opportuniites, but this South America, not CONCACAF, and you will pay for every little mistake. Overall, I though this backline looked more composed than the Gold Cup backline, they read the game well and did not have to make last ditch tackles.

Overall, pleased with the performance given the circumstances. I think we will acquit ourselves well playing wise in this tournament, but I have trouble seeing where the goals are going to come from unless we can allow Benny to be a bit more advanced in the attack.

[JesseMT]

I agree with the above comments regarding Gaven. He looked lethargic, timid, and uninterested. On the other hand, Beckerman looked quite good in the short time he saw at the end of the match.

Nonetheless, I can't say I'm disappointed that Gaven came in the game. Bradley made it clear we weren't going down there to compete for any trophies, but to test young talent. Now we know a little more about Gaven. (He sucks.) More positively, we know a little more about Bornstein, Beckerman, and the few other young nats that quietly had themselves a nice game.

One more note - I was very pleasantly surprised at how well Olsen played. He is not done contributing.

[Tim Crawford]

1) EJ was awful. He was so hesitant all game. It's ridiculous. I was even mad at him for the PK because he didn't shoot the ball. He had opportunities to run at Argentina and pulled up to wait for support. YOU'RE THE FASTEST MAN ON THE FIELD!!!

2) Twellman needs to be the focal point if you want anything from him. If you watch Revs games, Twellman gets goals because the rest of the team creates for him. He's a poacher. He'll work hard and scrap some balls, but he needs service. Tonight it seemed like he was supposed to be supporting EJ and that's all wrong. Notice all the chances created in the Gold Cup game w/ Twellman when Dempsey was dancing around behind him. For the Revs, it's Pat Noonan floating all over the place, with Ralston and Dorman, setting TnT up time and time again. He'll finish, just get him the ball.

3) Mapp stunk. PLAY HERC!!! Not at forward, at left mid. He's been scorching there all year, and he deserves the chance. Mapp is too silent too often.

4) The defense was spectacular. Once goal 2 came, it was pretty much done. Before that time I was in love with Conrad, Bornstein, and Wynne. I thought they did a spectacular job. Props to Ben Olsen for his work on both ends too.

5) I can't count out Keller yet . . . he still doesn't look good, but that save he made on the blast sure looked good and makes me keep some optimism about him. I still want to see Guzan though.

[Dro Scott]

I just really wish we couldve seen what our A team wouldve done against this strong Argentina team