EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - The US ended its trio of high-profile friendlies on a high note by battling Argentina to an entertaining 0-0 draw at Giants Stadium on Sunday night.

Although the score line would suggest otherwise, this match was anything but bland. Surely, the 78,683 spectators - a record for a US Men's National Team home game - left feeling as if they had gotten their moneys worth, and then some.

Minus the goals, this match had everything: world class attacking, world class defending, world class goalkeeping, multiple red cards, a torrential downpour and even a few flashes of lighting - not just from Lionel Messi, but Mother Nature as well.

Things started off with the temperature at a comfortable 85 degrees and no precipitation as the US fielded a line-up similar to the one that was defeated in Santander just a few days earlier.

Danny Califf took Carlos Bocanegra's center back slot next to Oguchi Onyewu, Landon Donovan, who wore the captain's armband, took Freddy Adu's spot as the playmaker behind Eddie Johnson, and Maurice Edu was replaced by Pablo Mastroeni.
Otherwise, the starting eleven remained the same from the Spain match.

Not surprisingly, Argentina took the early attacking impetus as they controlled possession and forced Tim Howard off his line to claim a teasing cross only a few minutes in.

A minute later, in what was a recurring theme, Julio Cruz broke in from the left side only to see Howard deny him with a kick save and then stop his second attempt by tipping the ball out for a corner kick.

After some good work from Messi, who saw a lot of the ball early on, Cruz again got behind the defense on the left, but his goal bound attempt was blocked by a sliding Califf.

The US soon showed that they could attack as well when Clint Dempsey played a beautiful through ball to DaMarcus Beasley, who served in a cross bound for the head of Johnson, but a last-second leap allowed Gonzalo Rodriguez to head away from danger.

In the 14th minute, the third time was not a charm for Cruz as he again was in on goal from the left side, but muscled out of bounds by the onrushing Howard and Steve Cherundolo.

Two minutes later, after the Albiceleste won a free kick, Messi served a ball onto the head of a scandalously unmarked Gabriel Heinze, but the Real Madrid man was unable to direct the ball onto goal despite the lack of any pressure from the US defense.

The US came right back with a free kick of their own when Donovan played a ball into Johnson, who sent his diving header attempt into the hands of Roberto Abbondanzieri.

After a five-minute lull in the action, it was Cruz again in on goal, but the striker was a step too slow to decide as Califf was able to recover and dispossess Cruz with a great sliding tackle.

Continuing the pattern, Cruz got behind the US defense, but once again, Howard was his superior as the Everton keeper made a great low save.

Thirty minutes into the first half, Dempsey had the best chance for the US up to that point, when his deflected shot from the top of the box narrowly missed looping in at the far post.

Bradley's men continued to attack as Beasley and Michael Bradley combined nicely, with the latter heading the ball through to Heath Pearce, whose volley forced a diving save out of Abbondanzieri.

With only a few minutes left in the half, Dempsey served a great ball into Johnson, but the former Kansas City striker sent his header straight at the Argentinean keeper.

To cap off a half to forget, Cruz again found himself one-on-one with Howard, who again proved to be the better with a stunning reflex save on a ball that was bound for the far post.

After halftime, Maurice Edu replaced Bradley. Much to the dismay of the Argentina fans, Alfio Basile removed Messi at the half in favor of Jose Sosa, thus giving the team a more symmetrical and balanced look.

Unlike the first half, it was the US applying the early pressure with a great ball from Pearce that found Dempsey. The Fulham man laid back to Donovan, who saw his shot deflected out for a corner.

On the ensuing corner, Donovan played in a dangerous cross that found the head of an onrushing Onyewu, who sent the ball straight onto the crossbar, just inches away from giving the home side the lead.

Maintaining the pressure, Edu played a great cross field ball to Donovan, who took one touch to cut in and create space, but sent his shot high and wide of the far post.

Argentina's first chance of the second half came when Cruz played Sergio Aguero in on goal. The Atlético Madrid front man touched the ball by Howard and attempted to leap over the keeper only to fall onto his shoulder. His appeal for a penalty, and that of thousands of others, was dismissed by the referee.

With 30 minutes left in the match, Pablo Mastroeni received his first yellow card for a foul on his midfield counterpart Javier Mascherano.

Soon after the caution, coach Bradley brought on Freddy Adu for Clint Dempsey and Jay DeMerit for Onyewu. This slightly changed the team's look as Donovan slid out right and Adu became the playmaker.

The Benfica man's first few touches were nothing to write home about, but he eventually got into the game with a great through ball to Johnson, but the Fulham striker opted to pass instead of shoot, which would've been the better option.

In the 70th minute, the tide seemed to change a bit as Mastroeni received his second yellow for what turned out to be for dissent. As the Colorado midfielder put it, he was given the yellow for 'handing the ball to one of my teammates'.

It was a very questionable call as referee Joel Aguilar Chicas gave Mastroeni the yellow and walked away only, for Javier Mascherano to run over and remind him that it was Mastroeni's second card.

In response to the ejection, Bob Bradley brought on midfielder Sacha Kljestan for Johnson and Eddie Lewis on for the impressive Pearce.

Predictably, Argentina then began to press, but they could not muster any clear chances to challenge Howard.

The skies then opened and lightning lit up the normally boring East Rutherford sky and the US, especially Adu, seemed to be energized.

"I love playing in the rain," Adu told American Soccer Daily. "I love it because, for a player like myself, I'm able to get defenders off balance. I'm able to make them fall."

Despite being down a man, the US still pressured as DeMerit nearly scored on a diving header at the near post and Freddy Adu sent a shot from the top of the box over goal.

The playing field was then evened in the 84th minute as the karma gods appeared to be looking down when Mascherano received his second yellow for a brash studs-up challenge to the shin of Donovan.

With the result all but looking assured in injury time, Bradley brought on Frankie Hejduk for Beasley as Lewis moved up to left midfield.

However, the US had a chance to steal the game with a counterattack that saw Landon Donovan find a streaking Sacha Kljestan in on goal. The Chivas USA midfielder stumbled a bit, but kept the ball and cut back onto his left foot for a shot from the top of the box that was deflected out off of an Argentinean defender.

This proved to be the last chance of the game as Chicas blew the final whistle making the 0-0 score official.

Afterwards, Dempsey, who enjoyed his best performance of the three matches spoke of the opponents and the game saying, "It wasn't as fast as we played against England or Spain. They're a good team, keeping the ball and creating chances. They're a good team but we had our chances as well."

Donovan was a little blunter in his assessment, saying "I thought... that's a damn good team that we just played against."

The US will look to ride the wave of confidence from this match when they start qualifying for the 2010 World Cup on June 15th against Barbados at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Tim Howard
#2 Landon Donovan
#3 Fernando Gago

Line-ups
USA - Tim Howard; Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu (Jay DeMerit 61'), Danny Califf, Heath Pearce (Eddie Lewis 78'), Michael Bradley (Maurice Edu 46'), Pablo Mastroeni, Clint Dempsey (Freddy Adu 61'), Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley (Frankie Hejduk 91+'), Eddie Johnson (Sacha Kljestan 74')

ARG - Roberto Abbondanzieri; Gonzalo Rodriguez, Nicolas Burdisso (Martin Demichelis 46'), Gabriel Heinze, Pablo Zabaleta (Javier Zanetti 77'), Fernando Gago, Maximiliano Rodriguez (Fernando Cavenaghi 74'), Javier Mascherano, Julio Cruz (Lisandro Lopez 64'), Sergio Aguero (Ever Banega