The Action

The action on the field was quite interesting. The USA’s glut of central midfield players pushed Bob Bradley to put the team in a 4-2-3-1 formation that looks as follows.

When I saw the lineup, I was encouraged that we would be able to strike a real balance of possession and combativeness in the midfield. Jones and Dempsey and Donovan would help maintain the possession and Bradley and Jones and Edu would hopefully make it difficult for Argentina to attack us up the middle and force them out wide.

(Back: Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Carlos Bocanegra, Tim Howard, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Jermaine Jones; Front: Jonathan Spector, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore)

This strategy proved to be half successful. Argentina did attack us out wide. Plenty.

Unfortunately, they also attacked us up the middle. At will. The first half was essentially one-way traffic, with Messi leading the charge. Our boys did a good job of swarming him, but it usually took at least two or three people to force him to pass it, and when he would, it was usually a brilliant pass, accompanied by a darting run into a dangerous portion of the field. What amazed me most was how Messi found and used space. He always created just enough space to squeeze a pass through and he always seemed to find little cracks of space to squeeze into in order to receive a pass. He was incredible.

Lionel Messi bedevils two Yanks

When they weren’t attacking up the middle, there were plenty of players like Esteban Cambiasso that would ping the ball wide to Argentina’s wingers. A typical possession of Argentina consisted of sucking the whole American defense into the middle and then sending the ball out wide. Poor Carlos Bocanegra must have sprinted from the box out to the wing 10 times in the first half. Suck us in, then stretch us out.

Fortunately, we had a few weapons at our disposal. Tim Howard was absolutely immense in the first half. When Argentina’s wingers would get to the endline and cross, Howard often found a way to claim it. If he didn’t claim it, he deflected it. If he didn’t deflect it, Jay Demerit interfered enough to prevent a goal. Amazingly, we were still level at 0-0 until the 43 minute. Messi got to the endline, nutmegged Bocanegra somehow, and another Argentina player shot. Tim Howard produced a brilliant save, but Esteban Cambiasso fired the rebounded into the roof of the net. The half ended 0-1 to Argentina.

Cambiasso gives ARG the lead

At halftime, Coach Bradley made several changes, two of which were notable. Timmy Chandler, a German born son of an American serviceman, and Juan Agudelo came on for us. Chandler took Spector’s spot and Agudelo came on for Jones, and we immediately looked better. Chandler, playing in his very first game for the Yanks, started to relentlessly attack up the right side. Better yet, he produced good crosses. Agudelo started linking up with Altidore and Dempsey.

All this culminated in a free kick from Landon Donovan from about 45 yards out. He sent the ball into the box and Carlos Bocanegra got his head on it and directed it goalward (doesn’t he seem to do this an awful lot?). The keeper made a great save, but was unable to hold it. Juan Agudelo played the role of Juanny-on-the-spot and poked it in. When it went it, my view was such that I only saw the net move. Upon replay, we saw that Agudelo had slowed his run, twisted his body, and squeezed the ball between the hands of the keeper and the post. It was a goal that was, in actuality, far more difficult than it appeared at first glance.

Have a look.

The stage was set for a frantic finish, with both teams chasing a winner. Unfortunately, neither team really got close to grabbing that winner. The game ended 1-1 and, had this been a World Cup game, it would have been a point gained for the US and two lost for Argentina.

In evaluating our team, there were several players that acquitted themselves as winners. Tim Howard, Jay DeMerit, Clint Dempsey, and Michael Bradley all played well. The real stars, however, were young Timmy Chandler and Juan Agudelo. Those that didn’t play well were Jonathan Spector, Jermaine Jones, Oguchi Onyewu, and Landon Donovan. Donovan, while he provided the freekick that led to the goal, was very quiet and did not impose himself on the game.

We left the game, thrilled to have witnessed the Yanks obtain a decent result and to have witnessed our defense match wits with perhaps the greatest player ever.