There was plenty of media hype ahead of the US Men’s semi-final soccer match against perennial world power Argentina, lots of rah-rah USA that I found comical. Not that the US didn’t deserve to be in the semi-finals, after all, they beat Costa Rica, Paraguay and Ecuador, but none of those teams are in the same class as Argentina, a lesson the US learned with a vengeance on Tuesday night in Houston.
The way the “experts” on Fox Sports were talking prior to the match, the vapid Alexi Lalas chief among them, you would have thought that American players like Clint Dempsey, Bobby Wood, Michael Bradley, and Alejandro Bedoya were World Class, first-rate, top shelf guys, able to compete against any team in the world. Now, it’s true that Wood, Bedoya and Jermaine Jones were all suspended for the semi-final, but even if that trio had been in the starting eleven it would have made little to no difference.
Dempsey, so effective in the matches leading to the semi-final, was a ghost against Argentina; in fact, the match was nearly eight minutes old before he got his first touch. That is but one measure of how dominant Argentina was; their midfield players stymied the US completely, forcing Bradley to make a number of errant passes. Fabian Johnson couldn’t get forward, and it took nearly 30 minutes for DeAndre Yedlin to make a run and cross a ball into the box. On the night the US managed just one shot, and it was not even on frame. Forward Chris Wondolowski, partnered with Dempsey up front, scores handfuls of goals in MLS, but against Argentina he looked as hapless as a man lost in a foreign country.
Argentina pounced on every loose ball and forced the US to chase and defend. At times it appeared that Argentina was toying with the US, just pinging the ball around the midfield, ever a step ahead of Kyle Beckerman and Michael Bradley.
The match commentary by Fox broadcasters JP Dellacamera and Landon Donovan struck a hopeful tone, even after the US conceded a goal within four minutes of kickoff, Donovan suggesting that Argentina might be tempted to sit back and relax a bit. That made me chuckle. Teams like Argentina, Chile and Germany at the national level, and Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona at the club level, rarely lift their foot from the gas; when they get one goal they want two, and when they have two they want three, and so on, but, given the American audience, Donovan’s comment was understandable; his corporate employers would not have been pleased if he had said that the US was doomed for a very long and very frustrating night and destined for nothing more than a spot in a meaningless third place match.
The quality of soccer in the US is improving and the growth of MLS is a testament to the sport’s rising popularity across the fruited plain, but the US has a ways to travel before the national team can run with the big dogs of this hemisphere. Even the bombastic Alexi Lalas has to admit this now. The US didn’t just lose Tuesday night, it got thumped, no two ways about it.
Argentina plays football the right way and that makes them a fun team to watch. Yes, they have Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in the world, but look down the bench and you see a depth of talent. Let’s not forget that even without Angel Di Maria, Argentina didn’t miss a beat.
No comments:
Post a Comment