My US friends, welcome to witnessing how soccer should be played. Comparison: Argentina, complete control of the ball, 90% passing on the ground, accurate, one touch, precise, fully supported
passing, the few long air passes were accurate as well and all had a purpose, masterful display of individual ball control and first touch play. US, ball sent long in the air always through the
middle much too often, almost always creating 50/50 balls or loosing it altogether, innability to play accurate one touch under pressure or off balance, good defensive effort, lacking offensive
(Eddie Johnson) effort - he 's got the speed but is afraid to use it?, and lets go tracking players because they run into the midfield?! what a loser! meanwhile midfield and defense are busting their
butts! EJ, play with passion or leave!. I understand US was obviously going delayed pressure, and looking for...

...the one goal and then packing it (ie. France vs Senegal style), but stop throwing the ball away on those stupid long passes. Teach your players how to play possession game. The bigger problem is
the lack of individual talent the US fails to produce. Mainly the issues are: - relatively small pool of players that have played grassroots at-the-park-soccer on their own, developing their style
and finesse. - large focus on club soccer, 2x week practice, play on weekends. This does not allow players to develop individual talent (coaches always train team plays, but to control the ball first
touch off balance and under pressure the way ARG does, you need to play every day as a kid and play from the heart - not playing so you can use the latest shoe. - high school soccer is a joke! a 2
month season! hahaha. Too many prime time sports in this country Those are some of the reasons....

why the US soccer, although somewhat decent due to the resource$ this country can offer (fields, equipment, coaches, physically fit players), not good enough because the passion and individual talent
is not there as it is in the countries we compete against - where soccer is it, and everything else is second to it. Sorry US, but our competition is not diversified like we are - they are focused on
one thing only. Be the best soccer player.

What can I say ? I believed a miracle was possible...It didn't happen. It's true though, as you wrote Gabriele, that the 1st hour was a pretty good level for the US.

FYI the American team was the B squad, while the Argentinians were playing a World Cup roster.

The US was not playing with its top players, had they been there its likely the outcome could've been different. My south american "friend" can keep his snide remarks to himself, I am sure he would
not appreciate negative childish comments had his Argentinian team had lost! REMEMBER THE FALKLANDS!!

I cant believe people actually thought the US stood a chance!!!!!!

The USA is playing with the "B" team but that's nobody's fault... Argentina is taking the competition seriously... Even if Donovan & cia. played yesterday I still think they could not resist
Argentina's excellent passing and what I call "killer bee attack" offensive strategy... Besides that, Argentina is starving for an international competition... and they deserve it... good blog bro...

I believe the US should of brung their A team, I think the US is just posting another excuse in not bringing their first team, Argentina brought their first team and all of those players play in
europe and the players playing in spain's season just ended last week, so dont use the gold cup as an excuse.

I agree with Tony's comments and Anonymous' above. (Tony, thanks for the detail and insight into why the US still has alot more to do to improve the game.) We should play to win and to compete, not
to show or train. I hope this is a wake up call for future competitions and tournaments.

USSF made a mistake by accepting the invitation to play in Copa America, since it was so close after the Gold Cup, which Bradley correctly focused on. Soccer in America has always been for rich kids,
they don't play with as much heart and determination as kids from the streets of poorer countries. USA needs to get more minorities involved and kids from poorer areas if they want to compete. Even
most Hispanics in the US end up playing American football it seems. With that said, it seems that soccer is becoming more popular in the US and gaining mainstream support...and the MLS and US MNT are
getting better. We already have the best women's team in the world because they get the best, while the men go play American football, baseball, basketball, and even hockey before soccer. Hopefully
that will change. If we could get our best athletes playing soccer we would dominant the world!

Tony is right about his criticisms of US Soccer. "Mainly the issues are: - relatively small pool of players that have played grassroots at-the-park-soccer on their own, developing their style and
finesse. - large focus on club soccer, 2x week practice, play on weekends. This does not allow players to develop individual talent (coaches always train team plays, but to control the ball first
touch off balance and under pressure the way ARG does, you need to play every day as a kid and play from the heart - not playing so you can use the latest shoe." One thing you are forgetting though
Tony, Europe is experiencing the same problems you point out. No playground soccer.

As a coach and a parent, I have the same criticisms. But the issue today is not only related to Soccer. All sports suffer the same problem, as everything we have our kids in is organized. Therefore,
they do not have the freedom to truly learn how to love the game, as you do on the playground. Talking to Glasgow Celtic youth coaches recently, they are suffering the same problems in the UK. (Thus
why UK teams can not compete against South American teams). Our kids spend too much time in front of computers and game pads versus being outside trying to get a game going.

Remember also that the US team is match fit, and in-shape. They have just finished playing in the Gold Cup, and a lot of the players in the team are from the MLS, which is still running, so they have
5 games to tune up and get in shape, whereas this is the first competitive game that Argentina have played in a while. The US competed well for the first our or so (maybe this was because Argentina
were not sharp enough yet), but once Argentina got into their groove, that was it.

usa is terrible! they do not play fotbal the way it is meant to be played. there is no passion no love and no brains! funny if anyone heard.. the commentators thought usa had a great possibility of
winning and that they were dangerous when they were possesing the ball! and at the end of the match said "was a great performance by the usa, do not pay attention to the score" he was serious.
right...good laugh out of that one! hahahah

Look Bradley should have played this youth team in the Gold Cup until the semis. They would have done just fine. The A team should have taken over afterwards and brought to the Copa America. Poor
decisions. The US has organization, infrastructure, and money on their side. But we have to take the game seriously and try to develop our players early on and from the streets. I am encouraged that
more players are going directly to Europe or Mexico for their career. I am also encouraged that we are trying to make MLS more exciting and stronger. All moves in the right direction. But we need to
build more soccer/football fields in every park and every school. Our kids should be playing the game from the get go just like basketball.

La veritá is that the U.S. can only play counterattack (like Costa Rica, Paraguay) and when in disadvantage they really lose control of the game (remember how Czech Republic whooped you at the world
cup?)

Look, everybody complains about the US's results, or about MLS, but their level of play in CONCACAF is second to none, especially in the last 5 years. From doormats to Mexico for all those years to
this? So they lost to Argentina's A+ team, the projected winner. All that game proved is that Argentina came to win after what happened to them 3 years ago. Are they in the same league as the
traditional powers in CONMEBOL, yet? Nope, but I'll tell you there were some sides this week that played worse than the US. What the US need to do is stop playing meaningless friendlies at home and
travel to Buenos Aires, or Sao Paolo and play stiffer competition. Then you'll see them challenge.

I totally Agree bfherbie we need to travel more, and start playing Mexico in Mexico, cause i dont think we've beaten Mexico at their house yet.

I'M SOOO HAPPY MY TEAM, ARGENTINA, WON!!!!! WE KNOW HOW TO PLAY! 'CAUSE WE LOVE FUTBOL,(SOCCER AS YOU CALL IT) IT'S OUR LIFE.... AS WE SAY IN ARGENTINA, WE WERE BORN WITH A BALL UNDER OUR ARM. WE
PLAY WITH THE HEART.

AS AN ARGENTINIAN I KNOW WUT GOOD FUTBOL IS. U HAVE TO PLAY FROM THE HEART NOT JUST CUZ U WANT SOME ENDORMENSHIP OR SOMTHING I MEAN LOOK A MARADONA HE WAS BORN INTO POVERTY AND BECAME THE BEST PLAYER
EVER U.S.A HAVE ALL THE MONEY THAT THEY NEED. AND ALL THESE POORER CONTRIES HAVE NOTHING. THE PROBELM IS THAT THE U.S.A. PLAY TO WIN NOT BECOUSE THEY LOVE THE GAME BUT ANYWAY ARGENTINA WON YAY :P

As a US Fan I'd like to thank the Argentina team for teaching our boys a great lesson. I'd also like to apologize for insulting your team with a C/D team - you guys deserved better. At first I didn't
like Bradley's decision to send young, inexperienced boys to COPA but I now see his thoughts for the future. If we can learn something from the experience, we should have a much better showing in the
2010 WC thanks to experiences such as last week. It is my dream that someday we can have 'heart' for Futbol like you Argentinians. Best of luck to Argentina and US in COPA America 2007.

"I also would like to tell you that the USMNT were really ok for one hour". ARE YOU KIDDING? What game were you watching? Ok is when you are trying to win and hanging the whole team from the goal to
not get scored on. That is the style the US uses, but it's not what futbol is about. You have to know when you need to play that way, but not use it as your only method.

I also would like to tell you that the USMNT were really ok for one hour". ARE YOU KIDDING? What game were you watching? Ok is when you are trying to win and NOT hanging the whole team from the goal
to not get scored on. That is the style the US uses, but it's not what futbol is about. You have to know when you need to play that way, but not use it as your only method.

Are you serious?..hahaha..If the U.S. would have brought their Gold Cup roster, they probably would have beat Argentina. Wow, these young new players played great the first half against Argentina.
This is the South American regional tournament, the U.S. already qualified for the Confederations Cup, so that is why the U.S. brought their second string. Hopefully they find more depth and build a
team that can win the World Cup in 2010. I don't even want to hear about someone telling the U.S. how they should play, especially a Mexican supporter (yeah, we have won the last 9 games). As for
Argentina, they are probably the best team in the World at the moment, but please don't get to cocky, they played the U.S. "B" (probably "C") team. And one more thing, the U.S. beat Argentina 3-0 not
to long ago.

Yup the US barley got by Canada with the Ref's Help, what are you thinking? If they could just beat cananda with the Ref's Help I mention again, what makes you think they can beat Argentina. I am a
very frustrated American fan, I talk trash against ur because we come to an important tournament against good teams and bring a B Team. C'mon, it's a real shame.

Oh yea we never played with any HEART, that's the biggest shame.

Tonite the US will have a great chance to show they deserved more vs. Argentina.

The US B team lost to the Argentinian A team, as most B teams from any country would've. To try to compare the level of the game between two teams would be absurd.