At the end of the day, Argentina showed why they are ranked as the top national team in the soccer world by FIFA, and the United States showed why they are 31st. If there is any silver lining in losing the way they did, it's that Jurgen Klinsmann learned how valuable Bobby Wood, Jermaine Jones and Alejandro Bedoya are. Or that the US still has much work to do if they are going to compete for championships.

Argentina came in as heavy favorites, as they should be (they do have the best player in the world in their uniform after all). They play with such skill, rhythm, cohesion and creativity that the US could never hope to match, not with this generation of players at least. Team USA's game since the beginning of time has always been based on grit and hard work, but soccer is one of the only games where finesse, when executed correctly, beats hard work nine times out of ten. While every team needs those workers to get their hands dirty, without cohesive creativity and movement, you can't win.

What's worse, is that the USMNT executed any facet of the game remotely well. Not defense, not offense, not tactically, not anything. They were undisciplined and incapable to executing down to the detail needed to compete with a team the calibre of Argentina. The Americans lacked discipline and straight up did not play with intelligence. Their touches were terrible, passes off and positioning terrible.

Maybe the suspension of three of their starters impacted the quality of play on the field, but if any one of Jones, Wood or Bedoya were on the field, it would not have helped the rest with their terrible first touches.

Klinsmann loves to hold onto the line of thinking that the MLS is not a league conducive for producing players ready to consistently compete with the quality national teams from around the world. Judging by the imbalance between the teams on the field in Houston Thursday, he is absolutely right.

Gerardo Martino fields an XI that of course features Leo Messi, but the other 10 can all be found in the best leagues in Europe. Sure, USMNT veterans such as Brad Guzan, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley played in Europe for many years, but even team captain Bradley played more like a chicken with his head cut off than a veteran. Hopefully the youngsters playing in Europe now such as Deandre Yedlin and Christian Pulisic can do a better job of leading with the quality of their play.

Or at least get one shot on goal.

Photo: Flickr/Erik Drost