The United States National Soccer Team has fallen into some very unsettling territory during the past few days. After losing their opening game in the 2007 Copa America to Argentina last week, the Americans fell short yesterday, as Paraguay secured a 3-1 victory.

The match against Paraguay last night marked the third consecutive game that the United States has played against a 2006 World Cup team. With a win against Mexico in the Gold Cup Final and a lost to Argentina in the books, it was Paraguay next in line to take on the Americans. During the first half, both squads controlled the ball extremely well. But it was Edgar Barreto and Paraguay that scored first in the 30th minute. Ten minutes later, however, Ricardo Clark from UCLA tied the the match when he nailed home a shot from outside the box. The score would remain the same at halftime.

After the interval, Paraguay took complete control of the game. The United States was outpassed, outrun, and most importantly, outscored. Paraguay went ahead with a goal from Oscar Cardozo in the 56th minute and they sealed it in the 90th as Salvador Cabanas silenced the Americans bench.

Everyone knows that the squad Bob Bradley chose to take to Venezuela for the tournament was both young and inexperienced. Many of these fresh faces on the national team have never played in a tournament of this magnitude. However, you can point the finger to Bradley on that one. Bob chose his team knowing that he probably will get sent packing early in the competition. The United States has an outside chance at still advancing if they can grab a top third place finish when they play Columbia on Thursday.