A Magical Night Ends in a Draw

Sunday’s friendly against Argentina had all the ingredients needed. A full house, national pride, first choice squads, and a hunger to win on both sides. Sadly, there was no winner, but I could make a case for the USA to be the winner in the long run here.

I’m not much for moral victories, but when you are playing against the #1 ranked team in the world, it might be time to make room.

First off, I’d like to highlight the performance of local hero Tim Howard. An epic display of last ditch saves on a number of 1-on-1’s kept the USA in it until the end. In fact, the entire back four in front of Howard showed their quality and resiliency on numerous occasions. Bob Bradley gets a lot of criticism, but having a solid back four to scrape out points in not only qualifiers but the big show as well is a quality you want to have in a USA side.

Pablo Mastroeni was another standout for Bob’s boys, putting in his best performance to date in the run up for the qualifiers. At this point, I don’t think it is any question who will pair with Baby Bradley in the middle of the park throughout the next string of games. Michael needs an experienced hand next to him, and not a fellow youngin in Maurice Edu. Pablo’s grit and calm on the ball is a great combination to have in the center of the park. I look forward to the partnership being formed again the Barbados games.

The fact that you could say we were a crossbar away from a win against the #1 ranked team in the world does sting, but watching the improvement of the squad as a whole over the course of these three games gave us viewers a pretty good idea of where the team is at.

We can compete with top sides in the world. We will have trouble beating them.

That is about where we stand right now.

More posts in a few…