Written by Grant Wahl at SI.com
It’s the United States vs. Argentina in Tuesday’s Copa América semifinal in Houston after the Argentines beat Venezuela 4-1 on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., behind two goals from Gonzalo Higuaín, one from Lionel Messi (which tied Argentina’s all-time record) and one from Erik Lamela. Venezuela had a chance to get back in their quarterfinal just before halftime, but a failed Panenka attempt on a penalty kick thwarted the Vinotino’s momentum, and Argentina rolled to the result.
How will the U.S. overcome three suspensions (to Jermaine Jones, Bobby Wood and Alejandro Bedoya) and stack up against the No. 1-ranked team in the world? That’s one of the big questions entering Tuesday’s showdown.
Let’s break it down:
Kyle Beckerman has to come up huge
Let’s be honest: Limiting Messi will have to be a collective defensive effort by the U.S., but Beckerman in particular is going to have to play the game of his life if he fills in for Jones as expected.
Maybe that means having Beckerman man-mark Messi, maybe not. But the U.S. can’t be chasing shadows against the best player in the world, one who’s in terrific form during this Copa América.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the referee allows the U.S. to be as physical with Messi as Venezuela was allowed to be on Saturday. But having a pure defensive midfielder like Beckerman involved might actually be preferable to Jones, who has a tendency to leave his defensive duties. Defense has been a huge strong suit for the U.S. in this tournament, though, so don’t just assume that Argentina will break down the Americans that easily.
Argentina’s back line has to be tested
The big question about Argentina coming into the tournament was its central defense pairing of Nicolás Otamendi and Ramiro Funes Mori, who didn’t exactly light up the Premier League this past season with Manchester City and Everton, respectively. The pair has been better than expected in the Copa, but this is still the weak link of Argentina.
Just look at the goal scored by Venezuela’s Salomón Rondón, who split the two center backs for a header that looked a lot like Clint Dempsey’s strike against Ecuador. Whether it’s Gyasi Zardes or Chris Wondolowski, whoever replaces the suspended Wood up top needs to stretch the defense the way Wood has during this tournament. That would give Dempsey some necessary space to keep doing what he’s done so well in this tournament.
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