When playing with house money...

The United State men’s national soccer team has a tremendous opportunity Tuesday night to shock the world and revive the confidence of the soccer fans in this country. Argentina await in a Copa America Centenario semifinal match.

In the Copa America Centenario so far, the U.S. has been, in my opinion, quite impressive. Right now, the Yanks ride a three-game win streak, won Group A and met the somewhat lofty, but realistic expectations, of making the semifinals. The team is on a high, and it’s been a great display of goal scoring, seven in three games, that has got them here.

The U.S. attack has been sprung because of a stalwart defense that has allowed only three goals all tournament. That should give U.S. supporters confidence. Yes, Argentina are extremely talented offensively, but the back four of the U.S. has been able to handle very talented opponents so far.
There is no reason to not attack in this game, but the Yanks must also be prudent and solid defensively. The last thing we need to see is a result similar to Mexico’s against Chile or Brazil’s against Germany.

To be fair, the U.S. could play a phenomenal match and still lose 3-0 because of that guy named Lionel Messi. However, a disciplined and efficient USMNT could easily find themselves in the final.

The problem now is the loss of three players who drove the U.S. attack due to suspension. Bobby Wood’s great driving runs from the wings cannot be replaced by any player on the U.S. roster. Alejandro Bedoya’s clean defensive work and quick transitions will be missed, but the biggest loss will be Jermaine Jones. His box-to-box work is the type of player the U.S. has needed in every match it’s played under Klinsmann.

But there are players in this U.S. squad who can fill in and minimize the Argentine attack. Di Maria will most likely not start, which gives the U.S. time to utilize not as occupied wingers. The center back pairing of Geoff Cameron and John Brooks need to prove their play this far is the standard with a strong handling of Higuain and Messi.

A high-class defensive performance could lead to numerous counter-attacking opportunities. The U.S. has been at its best when stymieing opponents’ attacks and then smartly passing the ball through the midfield and to cutting forwards.

The U.S. will have its chances, but the key is to minimize the chances Argentina will have in the box. Keep La Albiceleste out of your penalty area and you have a chance.

For the U.S., it is silly to expect to be able to win by defending the whole time. Even if the teams finish regulation tied, it's reasonable that Argentina would be victorious in a penalty shootout. So why not go out and try to be aggressive on the counter-attack?

The U.S. is playing with house money at this point. And when you play with house money, you go all-in.

The most important USMNT match in two decades

The fate of the United States Men's National Soccer Team, U.S. Soccer and even American soccer is riding on the backs of this one, pivotal match tonight in Columbus, Ohio, against Guatemala. This is THE most important match the United States soccer team has played since becoming a regional power and actually thought of on the World Soccer stage--2002.

Why? Well, because of some uninspiring results against any decent competition in the semifinal round of CONCACAF's 2018 World Cup Qualifying, the USMNT only has 4 points after three matches and currently sit in third in Group C. Third is good enough to go home, nothing more. A total of one point in two (away) matches against Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala.

But these results haven't all of a sudden turned bad, this is a trend since last summer's Gold Cup, where the USMNT lost to Jamaica in the semifinals--the first time the U.S. had ever lost to a Caribbean team at home--and failed to claim third-place. They continued in a Confederations Cup playoff loss to Mexico. And at the focal point of this demise is one man: Jürgen Klinsmann.

Klinsmann has been the biggest and most visible problem with this squad since the 2014 World Cup. His inability to pick a starting eleven he likes combined with his struggle to put players in positions to perform well have collided into a train wreck of epic proportions.

The fault lies with Klinsmann, in my opinion. We've never had a national team manager also serve as technical director of U.S. Soccer and now, we don't know what the combined position means. To whom is Klinsmann responsible? Especially with his contract running through 2018.

This match has much riding on it. It's not just a win-or-stay-home situation, it's the failure to move the momentum of soccer in the U.S. forward. A win keeps that momentum going--at least until September when our stomach ulcers return. Anything less puts the USMNT into turmoil.

Missing the 2018 FIFA World Cup would be devastating to soccer here in the U.S. We need to be in the World Cup. Our countrymen will watch it, but they'll find some other country to root for. Sure, we all have our favorite national team, but we need the U.S. to be there so we can all cheer for it.

We are now thought of as a country that plays soccer competitively. That much is for certain. No, we are not an international power, but for the better part of this century we have been a regional power. A loss tonight forfeits our claim to either of those titles.

We need a win to keep the sport growing in the U.S. We need a win to qualify for the World Cup.

This is almost as necessary as the 1989 match against Trinidad & Tobago--who we incidentally face on the final match day of this qualifying round--when we eeked out a 1-0 victory on the road.

The circumstances are almost the same. Then, we needed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup to justify our place in the world of soccer before hosting in 1994. Now, we need to qualify to stay considered a known entity in the world of international soccer.

We need to now reaffirm the hard work the men who played in the previous seven World Cup squads put in by winning tonight.

Self implosion: U.S. bombs 2015 Gold Cup test

The U.S. men's national soccer team has tried to make its claim as the top dawg in CONCACAF the past decade.

They won last World Cup's final qualifying round. They won the 2013 Gold Cup. They have not lost to Mexico since 2011.

So going into the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the USMNT had a chance to solidify that claim; having won the 2013 tournament, they could win the 2017 Confederations Cup spot outright. A win in back-to-back tournaments hasn't happened often for the USMNT, only doing it in 2005 and 2007.

Despite head coach Jurgen Klinsmann touting this tournament as the highest priority in 2015, his team failed to medal. That hasn't happened since 2000. That's not good, Jurgen.

Yes, we lost to a Jamaica side that was playing like lightning, a hurricane and an earthquake rolled into one perfect storm, but the entire tournament left USMNT supporters wanting more. More goals, more passing, but the only thing we have more of is questions. So allow me to ask them here.

1) Why did Jurgen choose the Alvarado/Brooks pairing at centerback, when he claimed that his goal with his roster selection was Gold Cup experience?

This I utterly do not understand. What makes sense is to bring these two on board. Alvarado and Brooks have showed promise this year and prior, but together they weren't quite ready for CONCACAF. Why not pair Brooks or Alvarado with Besler or Gonzalez? I am a strong believer that you learn by doing, but it's good to have a teacher alongside you.

You saw this with the outside backs. Every single one has proven himself in CONCACAF competition. I believe Besler/Gonzalez would have given the stability that was needed in the backline.

2) Why is Zardes always on the field?

Why, Jurgen? He hasn't a first touch anywhere. He can't shoot. He can't pass all that well. He's really just a cheap Deandre Yedlin, except a converted forward, not a converted right back. Why Yedlin kept coming off the bench baffles me.

3) Other than against Cuba, why did we only score six goals all tournament? 

Hell, even with the Cuba match, why did we only score 12 goals in six matches? Ultimately, all the problems we had with the defense started with this team's inability to possess the ball. Who is to blame? Well, everyone, but let's start with the captain. Yes, Michael Bradley was absolutely crap this Gold Cup. Like...2014 World Cup bad. Where is the MB who was called "the best player in the world" by Miguel Herrera in 2013? The last two major tournaments have been nightmares for him.

Short passes were either mistimed or just off-the-mark. Long passes were decent, but never amounted to many chances. The most telling part of his problems may be with his positioning. Bradley has done so well with making late runs or collecting balls at the top of the box. That wasn't seen at all this tournament. I don't know if the "attacking" midfield roll is for him, but the problem when MB isn't on his game is that we don't have a guy who can do that for him. His lackluster 2014 WC was made up by Jermaine Jones' awesome tourney. We didn't have that this Gold Cup.


These are just a few questions I have for Jurgen Klinsmann, but there are a plethora of others. He MUST be questioned after this performance. Bob Bradley was fired after losing the 2011 Gold Cup, yet Klinsmann is apparently not on the hot seat after this abysmal performance. Step one in answering these questions would be to win the Oct. 9 CONCACAF Confederations Cup playoff match against 2015 Gold Cup champs Mexico.