Lionel Messi and Argentina played like the best player and team in the world, leaving the Jurgen Klinsmann's side looking over-matched in Houston.
HOUSTON — It was always going to take a perfect performance by the U.S. national team and a shaky one by Argentina for the Americans to pull off the Copa America semifinal upset on Tuesday night.
What we saw instead as Argentina at its captivating best and the U.S. at its over-matched worst, resulting in a dominating rout that was even more lopsided than the 4-0 final scoresuggested.
The Americans simply weren't ready, and as much as Jurgen Klinsmann can carry some blame with his lineup choices, the reality is many first-choice players simply didn't come to play.
Chris Wondolowski's inclusion in the starting lineup was a shocker, given the fact he had played just 18 minutes all tournament and the fact he hasn't seen much time with the national team in recent years. That didn't stop Klinsmann for giving the 2014 World Cup scapegoat a shot at redemption.
Redemption never came. Instead, Wondolowski looked terribly over-matched. Rather than finding the goal to write the perfect story to bookend his miss against Belgium, Wondolowski turned the ball over and eventually committed the foul that Lionel Messi turned into a masterful free-kick goal.
Tuesday's loss wasn't about Wondolowski starting or about Christian Pulisic or Darlington Nagbe not starting. In the end, it was about one supremely talented team thoroughly outclassing a lesser-talented team that didn't even play to its potential. As bad as Wondolowski was, it was the poor showings of other regular starters that made the match even more lopsided than it needed to be.
You can start with Michael Bradley, who endured one of his worst showings in a big U.S. match in his career. He apeared skittish and unsure at times, turning the ball over far too frequently, looking nothing like the dominant force we saw shine for the U.S. as recently as a year ago. On a night when the U.S. needed its best players to play their best and set the tone, Bradley simply wasn't up to the task.
Bradley was far from alone in disappointing. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan was shaky early on, as was DeAndre Yedlin. Even Fabian Johnson struggled to deal with Argentina's attacking waves, though many times it was the poor play of his teammates that left him in bad spots.
Klinsmann will take his place at the top of those to blame for Tuesday's bloodbath. He talked of wanting to attack Argentina, but set out a lineup that wasn't one that ever looked capable of really attacking Argentina. He basically aknowledged his mistake at halftime, when he brought in Pulisic for Wondolowski, who probably played his last national team match on Tuesday.
There were very few bright spots for the Americans, as Argentina so thoroughly outclassed them that the U.S. saw little of the ball and rarely put together any truly threatening chances of their own.
One bright spot for the Americans was Gyasi Zardes, who played with no fear and went after Argentina, making plays and never backing down. He played with the fearlessness that Klinsmann talked about his team needing if it was going to beat a team like Argentina.
Unfortunately for the U.S., there simply weren't enough American players who showed up on Tuesday truly ready to play with no fear, to play with confidence and to try to go at Argentina.
Instead, the U.S. looked nervous and overwhelmed, and as much as many will want to blame Klinsmann for it happening, no lineup he would have used would have made the final outcome different. Sure, maybe a squad with Nagbe and Pulisic instead of Wondolowski and Graham Zusi may have made things a bit closer, but with so many American players failing to perform, Argentina was always going to leave NRG Stadium with a victory and ticket to the Copa America final.
There is no shame in losing to the best team in the world, but Klinsmann and his team need to do some soul-searching and accept that they didn't give their best on Tuesday, which is a much bigger crime than losing to a team like Argentina.
Clint Dempsey’s first-half goal gives 10-man USA victory – and they move into the quarter-finals
Congratulations to USA, and to Jürgen Klinsmann, who’s copped a lot of criticism. They deserved it tonight – they were better than Paraguay. A slight blip with the Yedlin red card, but Paraguay never made their extra man count.
This is the first time the #USMNT has qualified for the #CopaAmerica Quarterfinals since 1995
SKUAD AS meraikan kejayaan menjulang Piala Dunia Wanita selepas menewaskan Jepun 5-2 pada perlawanan akhir awal pagi semalam. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VANCOUVER, Kanada – Kapten Amerika Syarikat (AS), Carli Lloyd menjadi wirawati buat pasukannya apabila menjadi watak penting ketika merampas kejuaraan Piala Dunia Wanita 2015 selepas menewaskan penyandang juara, Jepun 5-2 pada perlawanan akhir di BC Place.
Dalam perlawanan itu, Lloyd, 32, juga mencipta sejarah apabila muncul pemain pertama yang berjaya meledak hatrik di pentas final Piala Dunia Wanita.
Pada edisi 2011 di Jerman, AS yang juga juara pada 1991 dan 1999 tumbang menerusi penentuan penalti kepada Jepun, menyebabkan mereka turun kali ini dengan misi yang cukup penting menebus kekalahan tersebut dan Lloyd muncul membuka tirai jaringan seawal minit ketiga perlawanan.
AS terus garang apabila gol kedua Lloyd menyusul pada minit kelima sebelum rakan sepasukan, Lauren Holidau menyumbat gol ketiga pada minit ke-14. Kemudian giliran Llyod menyudahkan hatriknya pada minit ke-16.
“Saya mempunyai misi hari ini dan kami berjaya mendapatkan rentak kemenangan pada babak pertama perlawanan. Ia seakan-akan tidak benar, namun impian kami untuk mencapai kemenangan tercapai pada tahun ini.
“Saya secara mental amat penat. Kami tahu jika kami melakukannya kepada Jepun, mereka akan merasa gemuruh di atas padang,” katanya.
Pada minit ke-27, Jepun bangkit untuk meledak gol pertama mereka menerusi Yuki Ogimi untuk menjadikan kedudukan 4-1.
Masuk babak kedua, kesilapan hantaran belakang pemain pertahanan AS, Julie Johnston (m-52) menyebabkan bola masuk ke gawang sendiri, namun AS terus mengasak untuk memperoleh gol kelima pada minit ke-54 menerusi Tobin Heath. – Agensi
