Winners And Losers: USA 1-1 Argentina

Posted Monday, March 28, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

LOSERS

Michael Bradley: It could be a temporary dip, but the rust due to reduced playing time showed up in Bradley's game. Gone was the confident movement on the ball, and the forward thrust to follow up an attacking play. These are key elements of Bradley's game and he offers much less to the USA cause without those things.

Whether or not more game time would restore his form to full-strength is a pressing question, given how close the team is to their continental competition, the Gold Cup.

Jozy Altidore: Not long ago, Altidore was the goal-scoring prodigy, and now, someone even younger has stepped into the task. Altidore is too generous of a teammate to begrudge Agudelo his success, but there has to be some chagrin on his part.

Yet Altidore himself left that opening for Agudelo by failing to score of late. Against Argentina, he was far too often aggressive, but aimless. He wouldn't, or couldn't, hold the ball up top, waiting for teammates to join the attack, and he would sometimes take on impossible odds, like trying to dribble through three defenders.

Oguchi Onyewu: The big defender didn't play horribly, but by his own standards of remembering how he was when at his best, he must be disappointed. Onyewu didn't perform with the authority he once had.

That may be psychological and, sadly, the scars of the mind can be as debilitating as any broken bones. In athletics a split-second reaction can make all the difference. Onyewu needs to get his swagger back.

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