The U.S. men’s national soccer team will face Argentina at Giants Stadium on June 8, the Argentine Football Federation announced on Wednesday. The national teams have yet to complete an agreement on the match, a source told SBI, but the team’s federations are in negotiations and the match looks like a safe bet to happen.
The U.S. team had been linked to a friendly with Argentina in the Northeast since U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati revealed a month ago that the Americans would face a Top five team in the Northeast and it appears that Giants Stadium has beaten out Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field for the exhibition.
The friendly would come just four days after the United States is set to face Spain in Spain on June 4, and a week before the U.S. team’s World Cup qualifier against the winner of the Barbados/Dominica World Cup qualifier.
The match will be the first played by the U.S. team against Argentina on American soil since Argentina beat the Americans, 1-0, in Miami on Feb. 8, 2003. The U.S. team lost to Argentina, 4-1, in last summer’s Copa America in Paraguay.
Argentina is 6-2 against the Americans, though the teams have split the past four meetings. The U.S. team last beat the South Americans in 1999, when Joe-Max Moore scored an 88th-minute goal to help the Americans post a 1-0 victory at RFK Stadium. Before that, the United States beat Argentina in the 1995 Copa America, 3-0.
One difference between the June match and previous installments of the series is the likelihood that both teams will be featuring full-strength squads. Argentina is set to face Ecuador in World Cup qualifying on June 14, with a showdown against Brazil on June 18. The Americans will also have a World Cup qualifying match a week later so it should also field its first-choice starting lineup.
The match is the latest for the U.S. national team against top competition. It will actually be the fifth match by the U.S. national team against a Top 10 team since 2007 (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Spain).
What do you think of the match-up? Are you excited to see the Americans put its first team against a top squad like Argentina? Are you happy to see the U.S. national team return to Giants Stadium against such a tough opponent? Share your thoughts below.