Copa America final thoughts

The dust has settled on Brazil's 3-0 victory over Argentina in the Copa America final--probably the only time in history when a Brazil tournament triumph has been seen as an upset--and the dominant narrative has emerged: Argentina bottled it. The word on the footballing street is that Argentina--and Riquelme in particular--can't handle the big occasion.

Perhaps. But it's worth noting that the Argentinian setup and approach to this game played right into the hands of their opponents. Argentina had Riquelme, Messi, and Veron in the attacking midfield with only Tevez up top, and relied on their fullbacks Heinze and Zanetti to provide the width. But with three holding midfielders, Brazil were easily able to contain the Argentinian midfield, and since Argentina so resolutely insisted on trying to play neat combos through the center, they were snuffed out time and time again. What they should have done is played Crespo up with Tevez and taken out Veron. This would have allowed Tevez to get in some wide positions and run at defenders. Argentina seemed unwilling or incapable of getting the ball to wide areas in dangerous positions, something that would have stretched the comfortably bunkered Brazil defense.

Give Brazil credit: they were organized and had two excellent finishes. One has to feel sorry for poor Ayala; rarely has an international career finished with such a sad performance (although even as I type that the words "Claudio Reyna" come to mind.)

The bad news about this, of course, is that we have to deal with another three more years of Dunga-ball. Still, at least the 0-0 draws will be livened up by his completely stylin' shirts.

US-Argentina

I'm reminded of the words of Bob Barrenger, Alec Baldwin's character in State and Main, who dazedly gets out of his car moments after a dangerous accident:

"Well... that happened."

It's a hard game to evaluate for US fans, something that's reflected in the strange Sams Army ratings, which give individuals higher ratings than the team. Certainly you can't fault the effort: the US fought hard in midfield and gave over sixty minutes of excellent defensive soccer. And I think ultimately the younger players on the field--I'm thinking here of Bornstein, Feilhaber, Clark, and Wynne--grew from this experience.

I'm most disappointed in a couple of things. I think the US attackers were pretty passive when they got to the final third. Mapp, Johnson, and Twellman would all hesitate, take a second too long, or not send the right early ball. Clearly, the thought "We're playing... Argentina..." entered players' heads with some frequency.

The case of Johnson is a particularly frustrating one, since clearly the Argentine defenders knew he could do some damage and double teamed him as much as they could. He had some great touches and smart plays, but lacked a real killer instinct. Bradley should show him the tape of this game and say "look what you did, but think of what you could have done."

Secondly, I think Keller's skills have declined from a few years ago. I think he could have been swifter in getting to the free kick that led to the first Argentina goal, and that he was not always as commanding in his area as he might be. I'm already much more comfortable with Howard in the net for the Americans, and I think that Hahnemann is probably the likely backup going into 2008 qualifiers.

I can't help but notice that things started to swirl down the toilet the moment Eddie Gaven was brought on for Olsen. Probably, Olsen was gassed, as he was chasing everything out there on offense and defense. But he also provided a lot of defensive cover on that side, and the US seemed to have a better shape when he was out there. Gaven looked just lost. It's possible that Bradley was forced into this substitution, but if it was tactical, it was absolutely daft. It says a lot about our current lack of depth in the attacking midfield that Gaven is in this squad at all.

For their part, Argentina did a masterful job in breaking down the US defense in the second half, and making the right runs to split us apart. They are on a higher plane.

I do think, however, that this US team can get results against Paraguay and Colombia. Clearly the Paraguay game is a must win if we are really thinking of the second round. But given the stated aims of our participation in the Copa. I'd be satisfied with good play and a draw against an obviously dangerous Paraguay.

Copa America!

No sooner does the Gold Cup end then lo! the Copa America is upon us. Does the fun ever end?

For fans of the US national team, the answer is yes, on Thursday night when Bob Bradley's experimental squad face a fully loaded Argentina. Remember, as we get thumped badly, that the whole point of this match--indeed the whole point of us entering the tournament--is that we get thumped badly by some world class players. With that in mind, there's really nothing to lose in this game. Kick back, grab a beverage of your choice and abandon all hope, and who knows? Maybe they'll sqeak a 0-0 draw or something.

Meanwhile on the first day, Peru beat Uruguay 3-0. The match report makes this read like a colossal upset, but after Brazil and Argentina, I really don't think there's a huge quality difference between South American squads.

Bolivia drew with the hosts Venezuela 2-2, in a battle between authoritarian socialist nations. I watched half the match and was kind of pulling for Bolivia because of the Jaime Moreno-Joselito Vaca (remember him? Dallas Burn!, the Metrostars!)--MLS connection. There's always a big disparity between how effective Bolivia look and how effective they actually are. In this match, as in the friendly against Ireland in spring, they moved well off the ball and found each other in dangerous positions, but there's not exactly a lot of end product. Their shooting is really bad; even the first half Moreno goal was fortuitously deflected. In that respect, they're kind of the Arsenal of South America, but while Arsenal have the talent to finish matches off, I suspect that Bolivia lacks a big dominant striker. (Some better central defenders would help too.)