HOUSTON — American players maintained over and over that playing Argentina and Lionel Messi in a Copa America semifinal tonight was a big deal, yet not mind-boggling.

Top-ranked Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion and Messi is the only five-time FIFA Player of the Year. While no longer a soccer neophyte, the United States knows it remains a distance from the top tier.

“There’s a bunch of very good players on their team. We have a few good players, as well,” U.S. captain Michael Bradley said Monday. “Sure, on paper they’re the team that everybody thinks is going to win. No problem. But ultimately when that whistle blows it’s still 90 minutes of competition.”

After winning its group, the U.S. beat Ecuador 2-1 to reach a semifinal outside its region for the first time since 2009, when it upset Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semis before wasting a two-goal lead in the final and losing to Brazil 3-2.

It’s not the World Cup, but reaching the final of this expanded 100th anniversary Copa America would be a major achievement for a 31st-ranked U.S. team questioned by its growing fan base after it failed to win last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

“We want to take the game to them, as well. We want to keep a high line. We want to go eye to eye,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “In order to grow, you need to go through some pain and you need to try things out. You need to risk. And when you risk things, here and there you get a lesson.”

While the U.S. is now alongside Mexico as a power in North and Central America and the Caribbean, qualifying for seven straight World Cups, it is 12-43-15 in games against former World Cup champions, including 3-18-1 competitive matches. It is in the Copa America semifinals for the first time since 1995.

“We were nobody in the world. We started in the `90s and we had to inch our way up,” retired defender Marcelo Balboa said. “Back then, we changed our game plan to play against teams. Now they stick to their game plans, but they’re aware of the two or three threats that can do some damage.”

And there’s no bigger threat than Messi, who has four Champions League and eight La Liga titles with Barcelona but who has not won any championships with Argentina’s senior team, which is seeking its first major trophy since 1993.

Messi, who turns 29 on Friday, is nicknamed “La Pulga” for his speed and unmatched dribbling ability. He wanders from midfield to the front line, drifts from the left flank to the right and often cuts from the right to the center. He has not scored in three previous matches against the U.S.

“You say you want to get pressure on Messi and not let him have time on the ball. How do you do that?” U.S. defender Matt Besler said. “Even when guys step up to him and are right on him, he finds a way to wiggle out of something.”