That's On Point: The Web Site

U.S. National Team fan No. 1 -- This game is a joke. It's just a chance of the U.S. Soccer Federation to cash in and trumpet a meaningless result.

U.S. National Team fan No. 2 -- Yaaaaaaaaaay. Argentina. Messi! Tevez! I better go start working on my costume for the game. America! Fuck Yeah!

Again, friends, the truth probably ends somewhere in category No. 3. As Robert Evans said there are always three sides to every story -- yours, mine and the truth.

As we know when it comes to how to accurately perceive the dealings of the U.S. Soccer Federation, specifically the senior men's national team, it tends to be murky, full of shades of gray, half measures, small victories and slow, steady progress. Lots of glass half full, glass half empty scenarios.

On the one hand, it's hard to sign off on the Federation charging $38 for the cheapest ticket in the house -- the upper deck at the New Meadowlands Stadium. For some perspective, in 2008 me and my pal Suppe sat in the last row of the upper concourse of the (real) Meadowlands. Yeah, technically you are in the stadium, but since it's humanly impossible to look cool in front of the ladies using binoculars -- or in fact even carrying them on your person -- the high perch isn't all that great other than being able to tell people you were inside the building.

Granted, from that nose-bleed triggering altitude Carlos Tevez looks like an actual human, not a character from "Street Fighter II," so there's that. That's a moot point since the Manchester City striker won't be involved in the game this time.

Factor in the cost of parking, somewhere in the $20 range, tolls in the New York area, (hot button issue warning) the price of gas and a trip for this match isn't happening for yours truly. With what's been said about the overall lousiness of the new stadium and it's not a big loss. (And with any luck, UConn basketball will be playing for a trip to the Final Four at roughly the same time, part of my personal equation.)

High definition on ESPN with the sweet sounds of Ian Darke should more than suffice.

Advance ticket sales are already over 60,000 so the guys in Chicago should be doing the Charleston atop a flag pole, Al Capone style.

Is it morally wrong for the USSF to charge over $100 for any seats in the lowest bowl of the stadium? Probably not. Every other federation on the planet seems to be out for profit -- above all else -- anyway, so why not play let the USSF FIFA's dirty little game? Jack Warner is certainly sitting in his office in Port-au-Spain waiting for a bagman to arrive with his envelope, right?

Admittedly, this is a very black-hearted, cynical approach.

It's so dark it probably made little Lionel Messi cry.

Maybe not the best example since Messi figures to profit from this game, if ever tangentially. This week a new set of adidas ads began running on ESPN, featuring a brief glimpse of Messi. Just because he looks sweet and innocent doesn't mean his legion of handlers and agents aren't treating him like his own Spanish speaking pitchman like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods? It's the way of things. Messi is good enough to hawk whatever he deems fit. So long as he doesn't start selling his own line of Messi-Brand female razors we'll be okay.

Less overt in their use of this game as a pure marketing tool was Nike, the ultra-benefactor to the USSF across all levels and divisions. (Hey, everyone needs money to operate.)

In a way it's a nice gesture to the diehard U.S. fans to offer a Twitter contest to create a slogan/motto to adorn the newly-designed (red) USMNT shirts for the evening. Fans get a kick of out this thing, either with earnest slogans about "hard work" or "dying bravely" while jerks (myself included) can take potshots at Nike's greed and the USSF's Pollyanna approach to the slightest criticisms.

Whichever side of the divide you fall upon, ask yourself this: does the USMNT need a new jersey design(*) every year? Do you need to own one?

(*) The only U.S. shirt worth owning? The denim 1994 shirt, of course. Problem is, when you wear it in public, only nerds likes myself appreciate it, so in that sense you're both a winner and a loser. Either way, we'll always have 'Celo's mullet.

The easily malign-able USSF boys in Chicago should get a round of applause for lining up a high-profile friendly and bringing one of the Top Five, upper echelon national teams to U.S. shores for a match. Argentina's National Team is something worth feting, even if nothing tangible beyond launching a new jersey for the boys in Beaverton, Ore. is on the line.

There are clearly worse things than the U.S. testing its mettle against Argentina.

What rubs me, and a certain segment of the U.S. fandom, the wrong way, is do we really want our national's soccer governing body patting itself on the back for a meaningless friendly in March in a non-World Cup year? People want to see appreciable progress where it matters, not the cash register.

So yeah, ESPN and "Coach" John Harkes will certainly make the talking points of the match about the U.S. getting ready for the Gold Cup or Bob Bradley "auditioning" players. Sure, that's in play, it's up to you to decide what this match is really about.

Or just watch it for two hours and try not to think too hard. That's usually the best policy, anyway.

Other thoughts:

* Suppose Bob Bradley decides he wants to play Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones together in one midfield. The U.S. would physically trample CONCACAF opposition. It's a midfield with the grace of the "Bad Boy" era Detroit Pistons, but teams would walk away limping. (Does Bradley the Younger get an automatic start despite playing the sum total of 88 minutes since Jan. 22?)

Problem here, is that the U.S. doesn't have a capable pure center forward, to let the 4-3-3-ish formation to work. An athletic, smart, consistent player up top would mesh with the other U.S. parts well. Maybe the USSF can use the profits from ticket sales here to grow a Brian McBride clone.

Then again it's not like Landon Donovan (assume he's handwaving the Galaxy MLS game the same day, right?) and Clint Dempsey are suited to be running up-and-down a wing, harassing their defensive marks either.

* One tactical positive of this game tied to the Paraguay game next match is it gives the Elder a chance to look at some defensive combinations. Trying to get locked-in with either central pairing or "back fours" seems very premature at this point. The U.S. defensive situation ought to remain fluid long term, though Bradley will need a reliable unit for the Gold Cup at some point. Yes, Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra have the track record and incumbency working for them, but let's not lock them in and write their names in pen for the next three years. Of course, the underlying thread tying successful national teams from the Magical Magyars of the 1950s to the current incarnation of Spain is spacial familiarity among the XI on the field.

* Would love to know if Mikkel Diskerud and Juan Agudelo mesh with elder statesman Donovan and Dempsey, the only elite/world class offensive players in the U.S. set-up. Would the older guys rub off on the new guys? Would it not mix on the field? Very curious about this. Could be a big key for the upcoming Gold Cup.

* Not to be a harbinger of doom, but the U.S. might want to consider future games without Steve Cherundolo at least during the club season, or start a solid Plan B at right back. He's not getting any younger at 32. This isn't a knock on his abilities, but consider that he's club captain at Hannover 96. (Kind of a milestone for an American, huh?) The club -- currently in contention for a Champions League spot -- is important to him, you'd figure. Is flying across the Atlantic and training for a game that means nothing fair to the club that pays his salary, for the small percentage chance he gets hurt? This might not be true at all, but it's worth contemplating. Either way, a game in March with nothing on the line isn't a make-or-break game on Cherundolo's future international career.

* Regardless, I'm happy Eric Lichaj got recalled with Cherundolo withdrawing. Lichaj is a guy you can do a lot with.

* Yes, it would have been noteworthy to see Zak Whitbread debut for the U.S. Remember, he's 27 years old and playing in the English League Championship, with a strong Norwich City team. Oddly enough the "Canaries" wear yellow, the same color Jay DeMerit wore with Watford. Pretty confident I'd rather see Tim Ream get those minutes than Whitbread.

* Something worth watching. How much of Brian Ching's rise to importance with the USMNT was tied to his play in MLS alongside Donovan in San Jose? Could the same be said of Edson Buddle? Buddle did leave the Galaxy and Donovan for a shot with German second division club Ingolstadt 04, which should be noted rivals Finland's MyPa for strangest looking club name in Europe. Donovan is good enough to make above average players internationals.

From my personal opinion, Buddle is probably underrated as a player. It's not his fault the U.S. didn't have other options in South Africa. Shouldn't hold it against him forever.

* Jonathan Spector? Your guess is as good as mine, frankly.

* Does anyone have any insight into why Benny Feilhaber has stuck with AGF in the Danish second-division so long? Is this a case of the club is actually making a smart soccer decision, opting to keep one of its better players as it tries to regain First Division status?

* Maybe this is playing Devil's Advocate, but the loss of Stuart Holden hurts the U.S. midfield for certain. It's worth considering that Holden's best attribute at Bolton this season has been consistency. He's almost more valuable on a week-in, week-out basis for this club than one-off internationals. Losing him, however, does make it much more difficult for the U.S. to play a 4-2-3-1 type formation with the group of players in this camp.

* Both Tim Chandler and reserve keeper David Yelldell were born in Germany with American fathers and German mothers. Is this going to be a hidden talent reserve for the U.S. like it was during the 1990s with players like Earnie Stewart (Dutch mother) and Thomas Dooley playing for the National Team? Bears watching.

* Kind of remarkable that Sunderland reserve Marcos Angeleri is the only EPL-based player on the Argentina roster.

* Also quirky, Angel di Maria is the only pure winger on either roster. This could be the narrowest international game in a long time, a match suited perfectly for Javier Mascherano.

* Very excited to see what Javier Pastore brings to the table for Argentina. Since the decline/falling out of Juan Roman Riquelme, Argentina hasn't had the traditional No. 10 playmaker type in the midfield. Pastore is getting plenty of good pub and shouldn't be plying his trade at Palermo very much longer. Let's see if the hype if justified.

* Apples to Oranges type of misleading stat, but Landon Donovan (45) has more international goals combined than the entire Argentina roster for this match. In fact defenders Carlos Bocanegra (12) and Oguchi Onyewu (6) have more goals individual international goals than everyone on Argentina aside from Messi. Does this mean anything?

* If gambling were, you know, legal wagering for a penalty kick to be awarded during this match would be a great bet.

* Oh, worth pointing out that Nike debuted light blue U.S. jersey's with white stripes back in 2007, think it was a friendly with Ecuador in Tampa. Donovan had a hat trick. Coincidentally that jersey was also worn during the ill-fated trip to the Copa America, which included a 4-1 loss to Argentina. So there's that.



Lineup Guess:

Same questions as per usual, though a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 seems in the cards ... but the personnel don't exactly fit that mold. Bradley the Elder doees have a lot of different options should he opt for the less conventional XI. There isn't exactly a sure-fire pick for the right side of midfield, barring shoe-horning Dempsey there. Maybe the only way we don't see a 4-4-2 (not the end of the world) is if Bradley rolls the dice on either Diskerud or Kljestan.

GK -- Howard

DEF -- Lichaj-- Onyewu -- Bocanegra -- Bornstein

MID -- Dempsey -- Edu -- Jones -- Donovan

FOR -- Altidore -- Buddle

If the U.S. is trying to get its best on the field a midfield of Edu, Jones and Bradley, with Donovan and Dempsey behind a forward in a 4-3-2-1 would work, if only on a one-time basis. As stated above, Argentina isn't a team you need to worry about width against.

Final Thought:

For whatever the reason, this is a match the U.S. could win. A lot of that probably has to do with how motivated Argentina is for playing a game with minimal stakes. It'd be very easy to see a scenario where Argentina steps on the field and expects to win.

The U.S. thrives as an underdog and can use its muscle to go toe-to-toe with Argentina. Can the U.S. defense the brilliance of Messi? Depends if the Little Guy's hoodoo while wearing the sky blue-and-white continues.

One thing that scares me is that Argentina coach Sergio Batista recalled the Inter duo Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso. These two are consummate professionals. They're not going to lie down or let their teammates be lazy. Diego Maradona let the inmates run the asylum, during the World Cup. Doubt discipline was a major cocern for the notorious rabble rouser turned coach. Then again, what would Maradona even consider discipline?

Since losing to Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals, Argentina is 5-1-0 with wins over Spain and Brazil. Oddly enough the only loss for the team is to Japan, 1-0, in a friendly played in Japan back in November. Doesn't seem like their dicking around anymore.

For better or sometimes worse, the U.S. under Bradley have a habit of playing to the level of their competition.

Labels: bob bradley, jermaine jones, juan agudelo, maurice edu, Michael Bradley, USMNT