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.

Leading up to the United States’ match against Argentina, I gave them about a 30% chance of winning. With no Donovan, Dempsey, and Beasley, the Americans fought tough but were eventually crushed by the South American powerhouse, 4-1.

Within the first ten minutes of the game Benny Feilhaber split the Argentine defense and sent a beautiful through ball to Eddie Johnson, who was then sandwiched by two Argentines for a penalty kick. Johnson gained his composure, focused, and struck home the spot kick for a 1-0 lead. The crowd at Maracaibo was shocked and Argentina was left scratching their head. The itch would end quickly, however, as Riquelme received a free kick outside the American box in the 12th minute. The Boca Juniors star sent a cross pass in that would find Hernan Crespo, who edged it in on the rebound for the equalizer. The score would remain the same going into halftime.

The United States looked very good coming out for the second half but they began to break down as the game went on. In the 64th minute, Hernan Crespo took the ball down the right side of the field and dashed into the box to score past Kasey Keller. A weak attempt of a save by Keller led to the goal. After the goal, the United States looked completely gassed and it showed. Pablo Aimar headed home the third goal for Argentina in the 78th. Finally, with five minutes to go, Carlos Tevez scored to make it 4-1. Tevez appeared to be offside from every single camera angle but the referees felt otherwise.

I knew the United States were likely to lose this game but once the game began and rolled along through the first half, I thought they had a chance to obtain a tie. However, Argentina proved to us why they continue to be a world class team that is very hard to beat. Head coach Bob Bradley will have to make some moves with his lineup and hopefully tune up before the Americans’ next game on Monday against Paraguay.