Shining Stars

Photo courtesy of nj.com

The US National team had yet another "never say die" moment Saturday night at the New Meadowlands in a friendly match against South American power house Argentina.  When the game looked all but over by the first half, Juan Agudelo came to the rescue in the 59th min to hold a 1-1 draw.  

Looking like they held practice sessions with FC Barcelona during the week, Argentina ran a clinic with the Americans, making them chase every which way for the ball during the first half.  Sergio Batista, the Argentine coach, had his squad well prepared.  They dominated in possession and had the Americans on their leash.

However, the Americans always have a knack for surprises.  Bob Bradley, the American coach, made a crucial substitution taking out Jermaine Jones and placing the young phenom, Juan Agudelo, at the start of the second half.  Turned out to be a genius decision on Bradley's part.

Agudelo, who plays for the New York Red Bulls in the MLS, seems to always be at the right place at the right time.  This is not his first time scoring a clutch goal.  He did it against South Africa last November in the 85th min.  That's where his popularity gave birth to American fans.

Besides Agudelo taking over the headlines, Tim Howard, in my mind, was the man of the match for USA.  He made crucial saves in key moments of the game.  The sliding save by Howard in the 47th min was the stop of the game.  A pass across the box forced Howard to come out, stoning Lionel Messi's attempted chip over him; the chip did not work like it did against Arsenal in the Champions League.

Contributions by new faces for the Americans seemed to be a theme Saturday night.  Timmy Chandler, who plays for FC Nuremberg in the German Bundesliga, showed his speed and crossing abilities on the right side.  He had an impressive debut.

Carlos Bocanegra and Landon Donovan helped set up Agudelo's game tying goal.  Donovan put a beautiful ball in off a free kick where Bocanegra got a head onto it and forced the keeper to make a save, creating a perfect rebound for Agudelo to finish.  

On the other side of the pitch, Argentina had the Americans in their grasp, yet couldn't finish them off.  They made two versus five look like a cakewalk in the park.

Messi was held scoreless, but had a wonderful assist on Esteban Cambiasso's goal in the first half.  Ezequiel Lavezzi had chances to score as did the Real Madrid product Angel Di Maria.

Batista seems to have put the memories of Diego Maradona's tactics in the trash.  It looks like he just wanted his players to play their game.  Argentina is definitely a team to watch for in the future.

Bradley's decision making looks to be effective and his changes in their style of play looked better in the second half.  This is something that they need to keep up for 90 minutes though.  

As Justin Beiber would put it, "never say never" to these Americans.