USA vs Argentina: A Condensed History

The United States and Argentina have scored some important victories over one another.

By Luis Bueno

Lionel Messi, Benny Feilhaber, Argentina v. USA, Copa America, June 28, 2007
The U.S. and Argentina have met nine times in their history. Some of those games are still fresh in American supporters' minds - a loss in Copa America 2007 to Argentina likely still stings - but others have long been forgotten, including an 11-2 Argentina victory in 1928.

Here is a history of the two teams from when the United States came out of its dark days - when the U.S. qualified for the 1990 World Cup - until now.

May 15, 1991: Argentina 1, United States 0
- Less than one year removed from qualifying for their first World Cup in four decades, the U.S. clashed with then-World Cup runners-up Argentina in Palo Alto, Calif. Before 31,763, the US battled Argentina in a close contest but could not best the two-time champions. Behind a 33rd-minute goal from Dario Franco, who scored 22 goals for the albicelestes, Argentina beat the U.S. 1-0.

USA lineup: Tony Meola, Jeff Agoos, Desmond Armstrong (Robin Fraser), Fernando Clavijo, Bruce Savage, Marcelo Balboa, Chris Henderson (Troy Snyder), Janusz Michallik, Bruce Murray (Dominic Kinnear), Peter Vermes, Eric Wynalda (Hugo Perez)

Argentina lineup: Sergio Goycochea, Sergio Vazquez (Fernando Gamboa), Carlos Alberto Enrique, Fabian Basualdo, Leonardo Astrada (Blas Giunta), Oscar Ruggeri, Claudio Omar Garcia, Dario Franco (Gustavo Zapata), Diego Latorre, Bisconte, Alfaro Moreno (Antonio Mohamed)


July 14, 1995: United States 3, Argentina 0 - In one of the biggest upsets in U.S. history, a determined American side tore apart Argentina in Copa America. The Americans had done well to beat Chile in the group-stage opener but fell to Bolivia by 1-0. Needing a win over Argentina to qualify for the second round, the knockout phase seemed out of reach. However, an early goal from Frank Klopes stunned the Argentines while Alexi Lalas added a goal on the half-hour as the U.S. took a surprising 2-0 lead into the break. Eric Wyanlda scored on the hour and the Americans held Argentina scoreless to pull off one of the biggest stunners in their history.

USA lineup:
Kasey Keller, Alexi Lalas, Marcelo Balboa (Mike Burns), Paul Caligiuri, Cobi Jones, Earnie Stewart, Thomas Dooley, John Harkes, Frank Klopas (Tab Ramos), Joe-Max Moore, Eric Wynalda

Argentina lineup:
Carlos Bossio, Ricardo Altamirano, Robert Ayala, Nestor Fabbri, Marcelo Espina (Ariel Ortega), Gabriel Schurrer, Marcelo Escudero (Diego Simeone), Hugo Perez, Marcelo Gallardo, Alberto Acosta (Adel Balbo), Gabriel Batistuta

June 13, 1999: United States 1, Argentina 0.
For the first time in four years, the U.S. faced off against Argentina. In front of 40,119 fans at RFK Stadium in the U.S. capital, Joe-Max Moore scored a late winner as the U.S. beat Argentina for the second consecutive time. The match featured few remaining holdovers from the Copa America upset but the result was the same. Argentina's lineup featured standouts such as Diego Simeone, Pablo Aimar and Javier Zanetti but once again Argentina were unable to break through against the U.S.

USA lineup: Kasey Keller, Robin Fraser (Gregg Berhalter), Jeff Agoos, CJ Brown, Eddie Lewis (Joe-Max Moore), Chris Armas, Claudio Reyna, Tony Sanneh, Jovan Kirovski, Cobi Jones (Roy Lassiter), Earnie Stewart

Argentina lineup: German Burgos, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Mauricio Pochettino, Hugo Ibarra, Claudio Husain, Diego Simeone, Andres Guglielminpietro, Pablo Aimar
(Cristian Gonzalez), Gustavo Lopez, Julio Cruz (Fernando Pandolfi)

Feb. 8, 2003: Argentina 1, United States 0 - A youthful Argentina squad handed the U.S. an early goal and held on to win 1-0 in Miami. Luis Gonzalez scored in the ninth minute off a pass from Andres D'Alessandro and Argentina held on to win before 27,196 at the Orange Bowl.

USA lineup: Tim Howard; Bobby Convey, Carlos Bocanegra (Steve Ralston), Dan Califf, Sasha Victorine (Nick Garcia); Pablo Mastroeni, DaMarcus Beasley, Chris Klein (Jeff Cunningham), Ben Olsen (Taylor Twellman); Landon Donovan; Clint Mathis

Argentina lineup: Sebastian Saja; Ariel Garce, Nicolas Burdisso, Gabriel Milito, Sebastian Bataglia; Pablo Guiñazu, Mariano Gonzalez (Cesar Garignano), Luis Gonzalez; Diego Milito (Clemente Rodriguez), Federico Inzua (Leandro Romagnoli), Andres D'Alesandro

June 28, 2007: Argentina 4, United States 1
- Fresh off their Gold Cup final victory over Mexico, the United States went down to South America to participate in their first Copa America in more than a decade. The squad coach Bob Bradley took to Venezuela was far different than the one that won the Gold Cup, but the team still took an early 1-0 lead on a goal from Eddie Johnson. However, it all went downhill from there as Argentina showed their class and dominated the Americans from then on out. Hernan Crespo scored twice while Pablo Aimar and Carlos Tevez added late goals.

USA lineup: Kasey Keller; Marvell Wynne, Jay DeMerit, Jimmy Conrad, Jonathan Bornstein; Benny Feilhaber, Ricardo Clark (Kyle Beckerman), Ben Olsen (Eddie Gaven), Justin Mapp; Taylor Twellman (Herculez Gomez), Eddie Johnson

Argentina lineup: Roberto Abbondanzieri; Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Gabriel Milito, Gabriel Heinze; Javier Mascherano, Juan Sebastian Veron, Esteban Cambiasso (Pablo Aimar), Juan Roman Riquelme; Lionel Messi (Carlos Tevez), Hernan Crespo

June 8, 2008: United States 0, Argentina 0 - Before 78,682 at Giants Stadium, Tim Howard played inspired in goal as the Americans held Argentina scoreless. Howard was spectacular on the evening as he made numerous outstanding saves, but his teammates could not penetrate the Argentina goal as the match finished in a draw.

USA lineup:
Tim Howard; Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu (Jay DeMerit), Dan Califf, Heath Pearce (Eddie Lewis); Michael Bradley (Maurice Edu), Pablo Mastroeni; Clint Dempsey (Freddy Adu), Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley (Frankie Hejduk); Eddie Johnson (Sacha Kljestan)

Argentina lineup: Roberto Abbondanzieri; Gonzalo Rodriguez, Nicolas Burdisso (Martin Demichelis), Gabriel Heinze, Pablo Zabaleta (Javier Zanetti); Fernando Gago, Maxi Rodriguez (Fernando Cavenaghi), Javier Mascherano; Julio Cruz (Lisandro Lopez), Sergio Aguero (Ever Banega), Lionel Messi (Jose Sosa)

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