By BRIAN LEWIS
Give Bob Bradley credit for this much: He sure isn’t ducking anybody. It was a poorly-kept secret, but the U.S. National Team finally announced it’ll face Argentina _ FIFA’s top-ranked team _ at Giants Stadium on June 8. That comes on the heels of tilts against England in London on May 28 and against Sprain in Santander on June 4. That’s one serious Euro double-dip, especially considering the cupcake-type schedules Bruce Arena used to favor, and the dismal record they amassed on European soil.
(I leave it to you to determine how much of that was cause and effect; I’m just sayin’.)
Back to Argentina; it’ll be at 7:30 p.m. and aired live on ESPN Classic and Galavision, and of course on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker for those of you stuck at work. It’s their first visit to Giants Stadium since winning the 2005 Gold Cup here; although Argentina’s a much tougher test, drilling the U.S. 4-1 last June in Copa America.
“Argentina is clearly one of the best teams in the world and playing against an opponent of that caliber is a great opportunity for our team,’’ Bradley said in a release.
“Combined with the matches against England and Spain, we have put together a very good schedule to help us prepare for World Cup qualifying. We expect it will be a fantastic crowd at Giants Stadium, and we’re looking forward to an exciting atmosphere.’’
To be fair, this should be a much better barometer of where Bradley’s team really is in preparation for South Africa. Back in June, fresh off the Gold Cup title, they sent a B team down to Maracaibo, Venezuela. This time, it should be a legitimate squad like the one that just whipped Poland 3-0.
Landon Donovan was on fire that game, while Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark completely dominated the center of the park and shut down everything Poland tried to do.
That would make four teams they’ve faced since last year that were in FIFA’s Top 10. What do you think? Schedule TOO tough? Can’t wait/ need tickets? Chime in.