3 things the USMNT must do to defeat Argentina

How do you defeat a team ranked No. 1 in the world?

That's the question United States men's national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann will try to answer on Tuesday night when his side takes on Argentina in the Copa America Centenario semi-finals.

It's a tough test for the team that dispatched Ecuador with a 2-1 win, and one that Klinsmann says doesn't scare his team either.

Here are three things Klinsmann's side needs to do in order to defeat Argentina.

Solve the Messi problem

Beating Argentina is as simple as stopping Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, dead in his tracks.

Yeah.

How do you do it? Good question.

If you have the answer, Real Madrid might pay a pretty penny for it.

"I don’t know if you can stop Messi," American defender Matt Besler said, according to the Washington Post's Steven Goff. "It’s a group effort when you are playing a guy like him. You always have to know where he’s at on the field."

Captain Michael Bradley and left full-back Fabian Johnson both have experience dealing with tricky customers out wide when playing in Europe, and that combination will be important.

Jermaine Jones is tireless and tenacious. He's also suspended, leaving Klinsmann with Perry Kitchen, Kyle Beckerman, and Darlington Nagbe as potential replacements.

If the U.S. can stave off Messi, there's Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero to worry about; that means Klinsmann's side needs to defend as a team - a strength the U.S. has displayed in spades in this tournament.

But team defending doesn't mean putting 11 men behind the ball, either.

Don't fall back, fight back

Since Argentina is top-heavy, logic dictates that the best way to survive is to defend against all those attacking components. But the handful of losses or draws Argentina has suffered in the last few years suggests otherwise.

As evidenced by Germany's World Cup final win in 2014 and Ecuador's World Cup qualifying victory in October of 2015, a more deliberate approach yields better results.

Simply put, the U.S. cannot sit in its own half and defend for the entirety of the match; Klinsmann's side has to put the pressure on Argentina and keep the battle in midfield.

Argentina's weak point is somewhere in between central defender Nicolas Otamendi and right full-back Gabriel Mercado.

It's a spot Bobby Wood and Alejandro Bedoya could look to expose with their combined speed, vision, and trickery ... provided they weren't also suspended for this match due to yellow card accumulation.

That's not to say that a win can be guaranteed if the U.S. attacks with purpose, it's simply the recipe for survival. If the U.S. defends well collectively the team could stave Argentina off for 90 minutes.

Practice your penalties

Ultimately, Argentina has also had a bit of luck in the last few years, as the teams that could match its talents - such as Colombia in World Cup qualifying and the Netherlands in the last World Cup - often took matches all the way to penalty shoot-outs, only to lose from the spot.

If the U.S. somehow manages to keep a draw all the way to a penalty shoot-out, a home crowd advantage certainly helps.

But the U.S. would also be smart to turn up the pressure in the minutes before the final whistle, Argentina's back line has sometimes shown signs of instability in the dying minutes of a match.

Germany attacker Mario Gotze found his 2014 World Cup-winning goal in the 113th minute of play, and Paraguay also earned a 2-2 draw in last year's Copa America courtesy of an 89th-minute winner from Lucas Barrios.

It may very well be that the United States' indomitable spirit of fight and perseverance helps find the moment of triumph late on.

Or it could be as simple as Brad Guzan saving a single penalty out of five.