Let Us Test Ourselves

As I was processing the U.S. defeat to the Czechs yesterday, I stumbled across an idea, one that I think would do well to carry the U.S. team further in its endeavors to become actual contenders. Since we seem to do well staging exhibitions for the world's top clubs here, and since we have the stadiums and marketing, why not have a mini-tournament every two years, and call it the U.S. Invitational Cup?

Here's the idea:

1. Invite 3 world-class international teams, two of which are continental rivals (Brazil-Argentina, England-Germany) and one from a different continent, to play the U.S. National Team.

2. Play the first round as a doubleheader, the first match between the two rivals, and the second match between the other country and the USA. For example, Game One would be Brazil-Argentina, while Game Two would be Netherlands-USA.

3. Three days later, play the final to determine the champion.

Pretty simple, right? The whole tournament could be done over a holiday weekend, such as Labor Day or Memorial Day, and televised on ESPN 2 or an equivalent channel. The host city could change every two years, particularly rewarding cities with soccer-specific stadiums, which would be ideal for this kind of thing, anyway. It wouldn't need to be a massive event, but it would be a fun thing for American soccer fans to witness, the continental rivalries would provide incentive for other nations to make the trip, and the quality of international teams would make the tournament somewhat legit.
The true benefit for us, however, would be the chance to test ourselves against true top-notch talent every two years, rather than going against the Latvias of the world, or undermanned Norwegian sides. Even if a team like Brazil were to only bring its B-team, it would still be a real challenge for the U.S. team, and worthwhile. Honestly, if we can get Real Madrid to play Real Salt Lake in freaking Utah, couldn't we pull a few strings and get USA vs. Spain at the Home Depot Center?