USA Argentina friendly set for March 26th

January 13th, 2011 | by: Tyler | View Comments

Finally, the long rumored friendly was confirmed today by officials within the U.S. Soccer organization.  The Argentina match on March 26th will be the first of a pair of friendlies that the U.S. team will host, with the second being USA v Paraguay which will be played on the 29th in Nashville, TN.  The New Meadowlands Stadium will surely sell out or come very close for the Argentina game.  Of course my first thoughts are that most of the crowd will be draped in albiceleste colors.  It’s tough for the U.S. team to get a true partisan home crowd (as in a crowd that supports the US team) when they host other teams from the Americas.  Last August when I watched USA v Brazil, which was played in the same stadium, I’d have thought the game was being played in Rio.  I’m not taking anything away from Sam’s Army, some of the most devoted fans anywhere.  It’s just the demographics.  If “the atomic flea” is coming to town, Giants stadium may as well be la Bombonera for the Argentina game.

As I mentioned in my post US National Team: Questions for 2011, I want to see if the U.S. team has been able to find the right players and tactics to raise their game to the next level.  Upcoming friendlies against Chile and Egypt will also be very good tests for the U.S. side, but Argentina will be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, opponents that the U.S. will face in 2011.  Paraguay, who made the quarter finals at WC 2010, will be no slouch either.  For me, the Argentina game will be a very important for a several reasons.  The first is that I am anxious to see if coach Bradley has been able to fix the technical difficulties that the U.S. team has had in the defensive midfield and back four netherworld where play has been unsettled for quite some time.  Should Leo Messi play, he is one of best off the ball runners in the game, and he always finds the worst gaps to exploit.  I want to see how the U.S. side reacts when this scenario unfolds, and it is a “when” not an”if”.  With the Gold Cup right around the corner, I would think that Bradley would put his best team on the field and not one of his myriad “experimental” lineups.  The last reason is that Argentina is just oozing talent.  Messi, DiMaría, Javier Zanetti, Javier Pastore, etc will be a very entertaining side.  It will be interesting to see how Sergio Batista has remade the team post Maradona.