Before anybody who missed Thursday's 4-1 Copa América loss to Argentina starts to cast about, I suggest you get a video of the game and watch the opening 65 minutes twice - you will find a lot to like.

The only players I had rated under the average score of 6.0 (I chose that as the passing grade to show how much better soccer is than figure skating) were Kasey Keller and Taylor Twellman. Jonathan Bornstein played his best game as a 'Nat and Marvell Wynne also impressed as the vaunted Albiceleste wing monsters Lionel Messi came up empty time and time again.

The midfield shackled Juan Roman Riquelme and Juan Sebastian Veron for long stretches, and forced Esteban Cambiasso completely out of the game. Eddie Johnson was running strong and doing all the technical work with aplomb.

And then...

Ben Olsen was removed, the Venezuela elevation and heat started taking its toll and a patient Argentina switched on the steamroll for 20 minutes. Some grades dropped as much as a full point over the decisive final half hour as a wildly credible performance sputtered into a 4-1 defeat.

The team deserved better, but this was a good lesson to learn. The bad news is now the USMNT needs a win and Paraguay will know not to take them lightly - I guess that's why they call it "onward and upward".

US Player Ratings
Kasey Keller (5) - Not only has the veteran's distribution game completely abandoned him, but he was slow to react on Argentina's opener and showed far too much net on the winner.

Marvell Wynne (6.5) - A mighty impressive debut considering the situation. Didn't fare as well against Messi as his opposite Bornstein did, but stood tall on several occasions and constantly forced retreat in the opening hour. In my opinion, the coach's obvious decision to give Wynne a second half overlap red light ended up killing three potential 2-1 rushes.

Jay DeMerit (6) - Along with Conrad, was out to lunch on the Argentina equalizer, but JayD can't be blamed on the other goals. He was a commanding presence until the lead was lost.

Jimmy Conrad (5) - One of several players whose grade dropped in the final half hour, Conrad had his most inconsistent evening in a 'Nats shirt in a looong time. More than once, he ran to a man in the area that was already covered. This was an unexpected letdown.

Jonathan Bornstein (7) - Had he bothered to hit an early cross or two when he had the chance, this score could have been even higher. That being said, he was the only member of the back not culpable on any Argentina goals. Simply put, his finest defensive showing for the USMNT to date by a large margin.

Ben Olsen (7) - The game changed for the worse as soon as he left. I'm going to just hope he was exhausted - otherwise, the change makes no sense at all. Ben was true grit in Maracaibo, and each goal scored after his departure saw a US man beaten in his zone.

Ricardo Clark (5.5) - Definitely had his moments and harassed Riquelme expertly in the first half, but like Conrad, ended up suffering his most mistake-filled outing in a while.

Benny Feilhaber (6) - Add another to the late grade deflation list because Benny boy had it going for most of the night. His pass to spring Johnson for the penalty was easily the best of the game - and he had Aimar, Riquelme and Veron to compete with. Seemed to really tire in the final half hour.

Justin Mapp (5) - Movement and touches were fine, but he never made the big play when presented with openings. Twice, he overshot prime targets with a cross and he should have been able to run through at least one of the foul tackles that kept him from turning the corner on his man into the area.

Taylor Twellman (4) - An awfully quiet night means an off night for T'n'T. Twice ran a defender into Johnson's path at a key moment, didn't show well to the ball and repeatedly stalled promising builds with bad layoff passes. Of course, he is not a support striker, and the coach should know this by now. With these tactics, maybe Charlie Davies should have been the choice here. Despite his dunce cap from this class, I'm counting on Twellman to rebound.

Eddie Johnson (6.5) - Was on the verge of fantastic in the first half. EJ made himself twice as available to cover Twellman's odd lack of effort, made several impressive trap-and-disperse plays on tough to handle passes and won/converted a sly penalty. Like Feilhaber, he seemed to have run himself ragged by the time Crespo bagged his second.

Coach Bob Bradley (7) - I docked him big-time for the Olsen/Gaven change, but in the end, he was able to get this young team prepared mentally and tactically for Argentina in only a few days. The US came up short on the scoreboard, but it certainly wasn't for a lack of trying to play like a big boy against a big boy. At the hour, this grade still had a chance to be a perfect 10.

Subs:

Eddie Gaven (5.5) - It's not his fault we lost, and it was probably too much to ask for him to enter a high level affair cold. A few nice thoughts, but no real impact.

Herculez Gomez (5) - See Eddie Gaven, only Herculez had a few less minutes and a few less linking passes to his credit. Unlike Gaven, he looked sharpest during the first moments of his appearance, but didn't keep it up.

Kyle Beckerman (Incomplete) - He didn't have enough time to make an impact in a game already half in the bag. Was nice to see him bang a few bodies and have a go at goal from distance, though.

Greg Seltzer spends his free time playing pick-up soccer at Museumplein and riding around Amsterdam on his bike in search of the perfect döner. You can email him at gseltzer@americansoccerdaily.com