Team USA did themselves very proud last night in a very cold and windy New Meadowlands in coming back to get a very strong result, 1-1 with Argentina. The Argentina side really came out smoking with top player Lionel Messi weaving many potential scoring runs through the US defenders, luckily he managed just one such run that paid off. As the game wore on it did seem the USA got stronger and their defense started collapsing in and around Messi to limit Argentina's scoring chances. While the defense of DeMerit and Bocanegra and Onyewu tightened up, Coach Bob Bradley's insertion of Juan Agudelo into the attack paid dividends 15 minutes into the second half as Agudelo chipped a loose ball past the Argentinian goalkeeper after a beautiful ball into the area by Landon Donovan (is there anybody better in the world at free kicks and set pieces?) and a sharp header on goal by Bocanegra.
The USA had a few other chances later as their game got better and better. While billed as an international friendly match this had all the electricity (in the crowd to be sure) of a World Cup game. Argentina ranked #4 in the world played their best side and the USA ranked #19 in the world played their top players. On this night the USA was equal. Why does a friendly match in March of 2011 matter to the World Cup seedings in June of 2014? Image and perception are everything. If the USA goes great guns in international friendly matches their ranking goes up as does the general opinion of the USA side it means a better seeding than Mexico when the World Cup pairings come out. For years the USA would beat Mexico in qualifiers but Mexico had built a better reputation so the USA would get dumped into groups of death. This past World Cup the USA was better thought of and lo and behold a good draw in South Africa. THAT is why these games are important even though they seem not to be.
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