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

[nutmegger]

Northzax: "find ourselves a Crespo"

That was exactly my thought when he scored the second goal: how are we ever going to have a striker who will do for us what Crespo does? And until we do...

[Tim]

Ives,

Did you finish answering the most recent Q&A? I can't seem to find your answers.

[Paul Lorinczi]

I don't understand the ripping on Twellman. He never got any service. He worked hard and drew the foul at the top of the box. Tim's assessment seems spot on with how to get the best out of Twellman.

Everyone is down on Johnson, but he did create some space with his runs. Let's see if he can learn from this game.

The sad thing about Mapp was that the defender did not just stick him, he took the ball away from him. That looked ugly.

Argentina made an adjustment to get Messi away from Bornstein who pretty much shut him down in the 1st half. Kudos to Bornstein for shutting him down.

Paraguay match. We can not let them score 1st. They seem to be a score and pack it in team.

Argentina's class is undeniable. Their passing and skill made us look like amateurs in the 2nd half. Their 1 time passing was so crisp and accurate that it really showed how far we still have to go. From that perspective, I think it was a good match for all of us to see. We still have some ways to go. Speed and conditioning can only take you so far. If we could add some skill to it, we may be dominating some day.

[Lalique]

Is it that Gaven is slow and uninterested, or can the kid simply not think clearly & fast enough at this level??? I say both. Every time he got the ball there qas zero sense of urgency and he was playing in 1st gear whereas the game was being played in 5th. But in addition to that I swear he had no idea what to do with the ball.... and has he ever been known for playing solid defense - that's what we needed on the wing to cancel out Messi. I think a Sasha or Lee on the wing was the obvious choice.

[Murphy]

The question is, why was EJ in the entire second half when all of us could see he wasn't working hard and was tentative for the entire first half? This decision, and some of the other player choices for the roster and the fact that Gaven was the first sub, make me question some of Bradley's decisions. I still can't believe Gaven is on the team, since he isn't playing well for the Crew. At least Gomez has been scoring some goals.

Overall, all I could think in the last few minutes was how interesting it would have been to see our best XI vs. this Argentine team--which was certainly their best.

[John]

The US played well.
The substitutions on both sides decided the game. Overall pleased with how the young guys handled themselves with such a strong team.

[Steve]

I know the subs are limited but I was hoping to see both EJ and Twellman leave the pitch. EJ does the same thing EVERY time... take the ball in, turn around, give it away. I cold barely stand watching the guy play. Twellman seems to have an ego thing going. What was up with tucking the shorts up? I am a Mapp fan but the kick-and-run move even irritated me. He should know that only works in MLS. If the US had an attack last night the game might have been less of a chess match.

[Guillermo Mendez]

Well everything was going well in th first 20 minutes and then we stated to fall down. I am just surprose how Ej still so afraid on taking others on 1 on 1. He just doesnt have it or he just scare you have to be agressive to be a foward and he really his putting himself out of hes oportunities, which it couldnt not ne many left. People you need to attack foward wehn you get the ball must of the guys got the ball and they were looking inmediately to pass the ball right away/ I dont know but i think our player pulll is not really that deep how many people think we are.

[Braden]

Since there were a lot of people who claimed that this "experimental" squad would teach us a lot about the quality of players we're going to take to 2010, let's review what we learned:

1) Herculez Gomez, Eddie Gaven, and Marvell Wynne aren't ready for the big time. The jury may still be out on Gomez, but the other two were pretty obvious failures. Of course, a lot of people could have told Bradley that this was the case before taking them to Venezuela.

2) Demerit and Conrad played very well, and so we actually have quite a bit of competition for the starting center back slot. (which is great)

3) Bornstein played his pants off, was much more disciplined on defense, and literally looked like a top-drawer EPL defender during the first half. It was no coincidence that Messi had to start the attack from the right in order to score Argentina's winning goal.

4) The rest of the players simply reinforced what we already knew about them. Keller's still good, but too old to matter, Olsen's a quality utility player, and our strikers are pretty useless without a dynamic midfield. Perhaps the best thing that we already knew is that Feilhaber is the future of the center midfield.

Are these revelations about the US player pool? No, so I hope USSF remembers this game for the next Copa and brings a team that can compete. You know, the next time we get this opportunity 8 YEARS FROM NOW!

[Elmer]

Overall, I was pleased with the performance. I think that the team looked great for the first 60 minutes. Olsen was key, and just got tired. Their effort was great. I think Gaven is rubbish. Wynne played decently. Bornstein did a great job on Messi and Feilhaber showed a lot of promise.

Johnson redeemed himself in my estimation. He looked better, but he just doesn't have that killer instinct. He is too willing to pull back when he should turn on the afterburners and blow pas defenders with his pace.

This was a decent game by our boys, they were beaten by a better team. Imagine if DMB and Donovan had been there. The result might have been different.

[Jose]

US played pretty well up to the time that Ben Olsen left the pitch. Gaven look lost out there. I think Taylor Twellman was also lost and didn't get a lot of touches. EJ, Bornstein, Conrad and Feilhaber, Mapp on the other hand played pretty well. Unfortunately it takes a team to beat another team not just a few players. Overall we needed to lose to get a lost out of our systems we had been 10-0 with Bob at the helm and that just wasn't going to last. Hopefully the boys can comeback from this loss and hopefully Bob can make better adjustments in the next game.

[Sean]

I always cringe anytime a player goes overseas and says the play isn't really much different, it's just quicker. That's a load of bull. These players that are in the top leagues are not only faster, but far more skilled.

A US defender tackles a ball into nowhere in order to stop an attack. The Argentinean defenders tackle a ball and it magically finds another player so an attack can start. It seems that the US team just likes to stop the attack in the moment instead of stopping the attack as a means to control the ball.

If this is what the US has to offer, I think it's going to be a very long time before we compete for the World Cup. Forget 2010 unless there are some U-20's that come out and show their prowess.

MLS needs to produce more players and improve its talent. Coaches should have to attend training of other clubs in the EPL and La Liga, etc. I'm tired of them thinking this level of play is acceptable and that our players don't need to get the most out of themselves.

[Super Metro]

Because Keller is shaky
Because Wynne is not ready for this level
Because Twellman has been given enough time to show "something"
This should be the lineup vs. Paraguay:
Guzan, Bornstein, Conrad, Demerit, Pearce, Clark, Olsen, Feilhaber, Mapp, Davis, Johnson
Subs: Gomez, Nguyen, Beckerman
Mapp and Johnson deverve a second chance as well as the subs and let's see what Nguyen brings to the table

[jig]

-------El Guzano----------
Bornstein Conrad Demerit Pearce

------- Clark----Beckerman
------------Benny F------

----------------Kljestan
----Nguyen--------------

----------EJ----------

F it..let's roll

[inkedAG]

That game was a stinker! We chased the ball for 90 minutes! But what should we expect when a Z team is called in. Just to use one example, ever since Eddie Gaven played with Columbus, he's been horrible. WTF is he on the US team in the first place? We should have sent a better squad or declined the invitation.

[Miguel]

No one should be surprised about this result. Months ago it was known that the US would send an A team to play the Gold Cup (Yeah, great, we beat Mexico yet again) and a B team (looks to be a C team to me) to the Copa America. I read a comment on a board today that stated something like 'oh, we would have been beaten anyway by Argentina even with our A team and there is no way we could win Copa America even with our A team'. With this mentality, what's the sense of sending our National Team to the World Cup even. What, to try and make it out of the first round? Even I believe that we could never win the World Cup but the Copa America is definitely winnable. You have to get past two great teams, Brazil and Argentina. For this edition there is only one great team (Argentina). Even the Mexicans made it to the final twice in 1993 and 2001. Man, what a disgrace. Even more of a disgrace is that idiot Bradley taking Eddie Gaven to the tournament. Eddie Gaven? Does Bradley even pay attention to MLS anymore? By the games that Gaven has played with the Crew this year, what made Bradley think that Gaven was an option? Also, Keller it's time to retire. My 9 year old son would have done better on that first Argentina goal. I see Eddie Johnson is back to his lifeless self. Taylor Twellman is ever the enigma still, great in MLS but crap on the NT. And Ben Olsen coming out because of exhaustion? Way to suck it up Douche!

[Brent McD.]

thought the usa showed well for the first hour but then just wore down. mapp and clark in particular looked completely gassed. i still cannot fathom what people see in johnson. sure, he's fast, but he doesn't know how to use his speed. he repeatedly gets caught offside. he hesitates and lets the defense get back. worse, he just doesn't seem to have any competitive desire whatsoever. all in all, about what i expected from the match. argentina's subs were brilliant and they took full advantage of their opportunities. have to agree with a previous poster on the tying goal though -- that was not a foul on riquelme.

good: demerit, conrad, bornstein, feilhaber, clark, mapp, olsen

poor: keller, twellman, johnson, gaven, coach bradley