US-Argentina: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I have a sneaking suspicion that while the mainstream sports media met the Gold Cup victory with a gaping yawn, US soccer stalwarts may hear about this result tomorrow. The phrase "without most of its regular starters" may be omitted from those references to the US Team.

I had a 9:00 PM EST conference call for my job, so I followed along with Ives Galarcep's hilarious running commentary. I watched the second half on the Univision live webcast. On a related note, I love the internet.

So my assessment is partial and abbreviated:

THE GOOD:

• Lionel Messi - The vision, pace, skill--just breathtaking. In a short period of time in the second half, he changed the entire pace of the game and overwhelmed the US defense.

• Justin Mapp (before he stopped moving altogether around minute 70): Eddie Gaven plays like he knows he's Eddie Gaven. Justin Mapp plays like he thinks he's Cristiano Ronaldo. I like that about him. Sure it makes him try ridiculous things, but he does have talent and I admire his moxie.

• The Univision Commentators: By the time Kyle Beckerman came on, I swear my High School and College Spanish started to come back to me. I also realized that the key to selling soccer to US fans is to obscure the lack of scoring by saying "Goal" 45 times after each score. Throwing in "Golazo" for anything more than a side-footed goal can't hurt either.
  

THE BAD:

• DeMerit and Conrad - Maybe they were great in the first half, but the second looked like I feared it would. The second goal was a keystone cops affair, with these two well-meaning and basically solid defenders falling over each other faced with the pacy and skilled Argentine attack. The third was an embarrassment. While Wynne played matador defense on the cross, you would have thought that someone could have marked the only guy in the box as he surges forward into the middle of the penalty area. Against many teams, even many good teams, I'd be fine with these guys. Playing these skillful, fast South American teams, they're going to get eaten alive.

THE UGLY:

• Not to repeat myself, but I'm going to stick with "I'd like to ask again why the farce that is Taylor Twellman's National team career cannot be mercifully ended." I didn't realize he was on the pitch until he was substituted.
  

FINAL ANALYSIS:

As I've said before, we're not going to win, so Bradley needs to use this competition to determine who he wants to take to battle in the future against this sort of competition in qualifying and World Cup matches. It's not that I don't want to win, I just know that we would struggle with our best team, and this side isn't even close.

So while the half I saw was basically an utter disaster, I really can't get too worked up over it. This should be the most difficult game of the group stage. Hopefully they can make some adjustments and put out a better showing Monday.

USA's Copa America Preview - Roster Strategy

The USMNT will get 3 nights to bask in the glow of their supremacy over CONCACAF (in your face, Guadalupe) before they face a whole new ball game in the Copa America. Many supporters (including yours truly) wanted the US to take on the Copa America challenge so that our top players could get experience in significant international competition.

What I had in mind, of course, was making sure Drew Moor was battle tested.

OK, so maybe the Copa America roster isn't loaded with household names (Charlie Davies, por examplo), but if Bob Bradley played the Gold Cup to win it, he's playing Copa America to throw some young American talent into the crucible and see who has true quality. I don't disagree with his approach. It is a major competition, but we're not going to win it, so why burn up Landon Donovan when he could be slotting away David Beckham crosses on Sportscenter? Get the youngsters in there and let them mix it up.

So what's the skinny?

• A significant concern with this roster is the lack of pace in defense. Conrad, DeMerit and company are solid defenders who are strong in the air and good positionally, but they really risk getting skinned by pacy South American attackers.

• Ricardo Clark will also be tested. He looked very sharp in the Gold Cup final, but he and Olsen are the only midfielders with a bit of an edge to them. They'll need a disruptive bulldog to keep from being overrun, so hopefully he'll step up.

• One hope is that the painfully underrated Kyle Beckerman can step up in this tournament. He does so much for his team in MLS, and I feel like he's capable of a lot more.

• In attack, it's pretty soft. Twellman should lead all strikers in the tournament in shots off goal. Eddie Johnson should excel, but will meander hopelessly and then give up on runs. I happen to be a Hercules Gomez fan, but there's no Donovan, Beasley or Dempsey to make things happen in the scoring third for players like Gomez. This could be the time for Justin Mapp to become that creative force. At this point, however, our best hope for goalscoring is 5 or 6 25 yard volleys from Benny Feilhaber during the tournament.
  

Now the main challenge is finding these games on TV.