HOUSTON – Can the US national team stop or, perhaps more realistically, slow down Lionel Messi?
It’s the question on just about every American fan and pundit’s mind ahead of Tuesday’s historic Copa America Centenario semifinal against heavy favorites Argentina, who enter the match atop the FIFA rankings and within striking distance their first international trophy since 1993 after back-to-back summers of final heartbreak in the World Cup and Copa America.
And while there’s no doubt the US will pay special attention to Messi – the reigning and four-time Ballon d'Or winner, given to the world’s best player – there’s a feeling that perhaps too much is being made of one man ahead of a game they hope will be decided by collective effort in front of what is expected to be an overwhelmingly pro-American sellout crowd at NRG Stadium.
“I think you guys are probably worrying more about Messi than we are,” US captain Michael Bradley told reporters. “He’s a very good player, but it’s also understanding that it’s still a soccer game. It’s still 11 of their guys against 11 of our guys. Our mentality has to be that we’re going to make the game as hard as possible. And [we have to] have the mentality to do it over and over again for 90 minutes.”
Jurgen Klinsmann echoed his captain’s sentiments, but also acknowledged that Messi’s transcendent talent sets him apart and puts him in the company of the game’s all-time greats.
During the US head coach’s pregame press conference, an Argentinian reporter made the inevitable comparison between Messi and Argentina’s most beloved No. 10, Diego Maradona. Klinsmann will coach against Messi on Tuesday, but he pointed out he’d had the privilege of playing opposite Maradona during his own playing days.
Both, he said, are human. Both, he said, can be stopped.
“You’re talking about two wonderful players, the best in the world at their time. It’s now Messi’s time,” Klinsmann said. “When I had the opportunity to play many games against Maradona, it was Maradona’s time. We all admire these types of players, but there are also ways to stop them. I’m not a person who pulls out old stories and tells the players how we did it. That’s just not me. There are ways, obviously, to play against these wonderful players.”
The US did their due diligence before the tournament when it came to opposition scouting, and they’ve since refocused those efforts on Argentina following a 2-1 victory against Ecuador in the quarterfinals.
“We showed the team sequences and video. We talked them through it. We trained them through specific situations of the game where you have to be very, very alert,” Klinsmann said. “Defensively, we’ve played a tremendous tournament. Our entire team is working together as a unit, making space very tight and being very aggressive. Doubling up. Tripling up.
“It takes another 10 or 15 percent from everyone to raise the bar and to give [Argentina] a real fight. Then anything is possible. If you look at the South American qualifying group, it’s not that they win every game. They lose games as well. When they lose games, they make mistakes.”
Indeed, the Albiceleste have been far from perfect in CONMEBOL’s current World Cup qualifying cycle, drawing against Paraguay and Brazil and losing to Ecuador to sit third of 10 teams after six matches.
Messi missed the first four of those games, and scored one goal – a penalty – in the two remaining contests, but wasted no time asserting himself in limited time during this summer’s Copa America Centenario, with four goals and two assists in 163 minutes. The US backline don’t need to be reminded that the Barcelona legend can change the course of a match in a split second.
Rather, they’re focused how they’ll deal with the inevitable moments of danger Messi will pose.
“It’s hard because you say that you want to put pressure on Messi and not let him have time on the ball, but how do you do that?” defender Matt Besler said. “Even when guys step up to him and are right on him, he finds a way to wiggle out of something. And then he’s able to get his head up and play the ball.
“It’s a huge challenge, probably the biggest challenge for us as a defensive unit. It’s not going to be one guy. It’s going to be a lot of guys around the ball and also a lot of guys across the backline to make sure that we’re aware when he does pick his head up. We have to drop or hold that line.”
The US will be alert, but they won’t be in awe. Messi may be the world’s best player, but the Americans hope Tuesday will be decided by two teams rather than one individual.
“I definitely don’t think there is fear at all. There’s respect,” Besler said. “We respect Argentina and what they do, but at this point of the tournament anything can happen. We understand that. We’re going to go out and do everything we can to win the game and get into the final.”
