The United States Men’s National Team took on #1 ranked Argentina tonight at New Jersey’s Giant’s Stadium. The U.S., looking to bounce back from two consecutive shutouts at the hands of England and Spain, headed into today’s match with confidence and 78,682 screaming U.S. fans.

The United States are 2-6-0 all time against the formidable Argentinians, being outscored 29-8.

Landon Donovan started as well as captained the U.S. side, earning his 100th cap and becoming the youngest player in U.S. History to do so. Landon also holds the all time statistic for goals scored with 35. He was interviewed before the game, and touched on a few things:

• The U.S. need to come out strong and confident. He thought they came out timid against super-giants England and Spain.
• When asked about tonight’s game, he responded:

We have nothing to lose.

–> Are you serious, Landon? This is why our team preforms at a mediocre level. You expect mediocrity, you get sub-standard performances. Landon’s the captain, he needs to be the one most excited about taking down the #1 ranked team in the world, friendly or not. That’s poor from him.

This game was aggressive and physical from the start, resulting in one player from each team getting ejected for two cautions.

Starting Line-Ups

Argentina:

Abbondanzieri

Burdisso—G. Rodriguez—Heinze

Zabaleta—Mascherano (C)—M. Rodriguez—Gago

Messi—Cavenaghi—Aguero

United States:

Johnson

Donovan (C)

Beasley—Mastroeni—Bradley—Dempsey

Pearce—Onyewu—Califf—Cherundolo

Howard

Highlights

6:00— Argentina imposed themselves early on the States’ back four. That produced 3 or 4 good chances, one of which requiring two brilliant saves from Tim Howard.

Inside 10:00— USA sends some good wide-balls in, but still no real threat. Something I noticed, which is kind of a ‘duh’, but Argentina are absolutely phenomenal at counter-attacking. A couple of times the U.S. created decent chances, and then before you even blinked, Abbondanzieri pinpoints one of the Argentina forwards for a counter. Awesome to watch.

27:00— Tim Howard makes a miraculous save out of a shot from Julio Cruz.

32:00– Clint Dempsey strikes the ball well towards the net, only to see it creep a few inches wide-left. Best chance for the Yanks so far.

1st Half Analysis

• Again, we saw Eddie Johnson in the right place at the right time on a few occassions, but couldn’t finish.
• Tim Howard is playing outside his mind. Seven times the American goalkeeper kept the pacey Argentinians from scoring.
• The U.S. didn’t seem intimidated in the least bit. The experience playing in Europe against arguably the two best teams in that region really seemed to help give the Yanks a bit more nerve.
• Although the task is near impossible, the U.S. defense held Lionel Messi for the most part.

Copyright: Getty Images

1st Half Stats

USA – Argentina

Shots 6 – 9
Saves 7 – 3
Corners 2 – 5
Fouls 9 – 7

2nd Half Highlights

45:00— USA—Edu for Bradley
— ARG—Dimichelis for Burdisso
— ARG—Sosa for Messi

46:00— Oguchi “Gooch” Onyewu fires one off his head arrowed straight for the goal only to have hit smack the crossbar. No chance for the keep if it’s on target…Argentina got lucky.

• U.S.—Great job of trying to set the tempo. Came out assertive and hungry.

50:00— Javier Mascherano appeared to get hit in the nuts. Exhibited the standard procedure by cupping his privates, and rolling around.

52:00—Controversial no-call from El Salvadorian referee Joel Aquilar Chicas when Sergio Aguero got snipped in the box after a nice touch to evade U.S. keeper Tim Howard. Fairly ticky-tacky in my mind, but many referees would have called it, no question.

60:00—USA—Adu for Dempsey
—USA— Demerrit for Onyewu

64:00—ARG—Lopez for Cruz

70:00—Pablo Mastroeni mysteriously is given his second caution of the game, resulting in an ejection. Still unclear as to why.

73:00—ARG—Cavenaghi for M. Rodriguez

77:00—ARG—Zanetti for Zabaleta
—USA—Lewis for Pearce (who, by the way, really showed up to play today. Respectable.)

86:00— Argentina Captain Javier Mascherano gets sent off for his second caution after a spikes-up challenge against U.S. captain Landon Donovan.

92:00—Last charge from U.S. involving Landon Donovan and a 3-on-2 break. Landon flipped it to teammate Sacha Kljestan who attempted a shot on goal, only to have it deflected and pushed wide.

FINAL SCORE

ARGENTINA 0 USA 0

Man of the Match: Tim Howard

End Game Stats: USA – ARG
Shots: 9 – 10
Shots on goal: 4 – 7
Saves: 7 – 5
Corner Kicks: 7 – 6
Fouls: 19 – 18
Offside: 3 – 2

Key Points

• Tim Howard played one of the best games I’ve seen him play; club or national duty. Argentina gave the New Jerseyan goalkeeper quite a lot to do throughout much of the game. Howard responded well.
• Landon Donovan didn’t take a dump like he infamously does against top-drawer competition. He led the team well, distributed the ball, and made some promising runs.
• The physicality of the game was the exciting aspect of the match. Mastroeni and Mascherano were both ejected, making the nil-nil game a bit more bracing.

Closing Statement

With the U.S. side getting better and better every match, all we can hope for is that the Yanks don’t take even a baby step backwards. As far as moving forward from the match, I’ll take what I call “big baby steps”. The U.S. can’t get ahead of themselves, but at the same time need to be proud of their performance against the top-ranked team of Argentina. Side note: This, as well as the England and Spain game, would be a much different game if Jozy Altidore were in place of Eddie Johnson. Like I’ve said before, Eddie’s got the talent, but the boy cannot finish! Altidore, fresh off a monumental signing to Villa Real, would offer a bigger presence and create more for his teammates than Johnson possibly can.

Overall Rating: 8/10
Speaking from any national side, a draw against Argentina is a step forward.

Great to see. Keep on supporting your country’s team. No matter the record.
That’s the point.

Thoughts?