Argentina 4-1 United States: The Harsh Reality

It’s the morning after the night before and all throughout America I imagine there are many soccer fans with their heads stooped a little lower today. After being convincingly beaten 4-1 by Argentina in their first match in the Copa America, the harsh realization is that the United States was outclassed, outplayed and soundly beaten.The irony is that the United States had a fantastic first half performance and, when the second half began, the U.S. side started weaving the ball around as if they were the ones in the famous blue and white stripes (that of Argentina, not the US of A). What became the US’s downfall however was static defending. The team was outwitted by Riquelme’s tricky free kick for Argentina’s first goal and left Crespo with too much space for his first and second goal in the match.

When Aimar knocked in the brilliant header to make it 3-1, this was a classic case of U.S. defenders standing around as the ball was floated into the box and no one picked up Aimar who was streaming into the area.

On the fourth and final goal, Tevez (Liverpool should be signing him, not Torres) made a clinical run into space to beautifully control a pass over the U.S. defenders and then carefully knocked the ball into the back of the net with his first attempt. In this one, Jay DeMerit – who had a magnificent game – made one mistake and kept Tevez onside, which led to the goal.

During the early period of the second half, I was watching this match and thinking that I can’t remember the last time I saw England play this well. United States’s B-side was far better than England’s galacticos by far.Lastly, let me add that the United States needs to play more meaningful matches against quality opposition such as this one. They’ll learn more in one match against Argentina than they will against countries such as Guatemala, Denmark, China and Switzerland combined.