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United States outclassed by Colombia in Copa Centenario opener

By on June 3, 2016

Jürgen Klinsmann is a master of the press conference. He’s bright, conversational and can transition seamlessly between multiple languages without batting an eye. Look him in the eyes and your brain turns to mush. Even when his United States team don’t exactly exude confidence, his smooth talk can help paper over the cracks. But that exuberance was gone after the United States were defeated 2-0 tonight by Colombia in the opening game of the Copa America Centenario.

A loss to the third-ranked team in the world, according to the FIFA Rankings, is hardly disappointing in itself yet it was the lack of creativity and bite up front that was most worrying for the US. Apart from two dangerous set pieces from Clint Dempsey, they never really troubled Colombia all that much.

Klinsmann tried to argue that everything was okay in his post-match press conference but his expressions betrayed the positive message. He spoke in a curt and monotone manner, in stark contrast with his usual bubbly demeanor. His brilliant blue eyes seemed hollow.

There wasn’t much he could say, anyway. The United States were unlucky to allow two goals from set pieces, but they offered little up front to give fans confidence that they can make a real impact in the most important men’s tournament to hit American shores since the 1994 World Cup.

The US squad will have the chance to redeem themselves against Paraguay and Costa Rica later in the group stages of the tournament, but this was a missed opportunity to make a statement.  They were shut down by Colombia’s organized defense and never fully recovered from conceding an early goal.

The United States actually had the majority of possession but failed to convert that into chances. Michael Bradley told Football Every Day: “Everybody needs to be sharper.”

“Tactically, Colombia were very organized. They closed the space, kept their lines tight and were able to make things difficult for us. [We need to be] sharper and make more of little advantages.”

Defensively, the United States kept James Rodriguez nearly anonymous but had trouble dealing with the pace of Juan Cuadrado and Edwin Cardona on the wings. Their midfield collapsed to help cover their back-line and in the end, they were spread too thin. Colombia converted twice on either side of the half, first through Christian Zapata and then from Rodriguez’s corner, without ever being troubled at the back.

Although the Colombians didn’t grace the Levi’s Stadium pitch for warm ups, much to the disappointment of the sellout crowd, they kicked the game off with intensity and verve going forward. The United States, however, spent all week preparing to deal with that threat and looked solid at the back early on.

We’ll never know if their game plan would have worked, though. Colombia blew the game up with an early goal just seven minutes in, when Farid Diaz whipped in a corner from the right and Zapata dislodged himself from Geoff Cameron at the far post, breaking free to coolly convert from ten yards out.

Said Yedlin: “In a perfect situation, I wouldn’t have turned my back to the ball. But human instincts sometimes do that. It’s just those fine margins that can make or break a game.”

The US, however, weren’t fazed; before Colombia could even finish their celebrations in the corner of the field, the ball was back at the halfway line. Although their attitude was in the right place, their tactics weren’t and the US struggled to get out of their own half. Perhaps, as Jermain Jones explained, the United States focused too much on closing down Colombia and then found it difficult to break through the midfield when they needed to turn things around.

Colombia came close again when Perez’s long-range effort forced Guzan into a smart stop and Carlos Bacca’s volley was also parried by the Aston Villa goalkeeper.

In the thirty-fifth minute, Dempsey whipped a dangerous effort just wide of the post from twenty-five yards with David Ospina beaten, but the US went into the half without a single shot on target.

And just as the first period was winding down Colombia dealt the deadly sucker punch. Bradley lost the ball in the middle and Colombia filtered the ball wide left to Farid Díaz, whose cross was blocked by the flailing arm of DeAndre Yedlin. James Rodriguez stepped up to the spot for the resulting penalty and beat Brad Guzan down low to the right.

The United States were begging for a change at halftime but Klinsmann held his power. Yet they weren’t getting anywhere, shut down in open play by holding midfielders Daniel Perez and Sebastian Torres. That said, Columbia gave away numerous free-kicks in the process and Dempsey nearly converted one in the sixty-third minute, his curling effort from twenty-five yards just pawed wide by Ospina at the top corner. Dempsey also came close with towering near-post header from Bradley’s corner, Perez clearing it off the line.

“On another day, those chances for Clint would have gone in and we would have been alright,” said Geoff Cameron. “Once the goals start coming in we’re flying.”

But the United States were frustratingly shut down and the introduction of Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic did little to open up the game. At one end of the stadium, the thousands of American Outlaws were dead quiet as the match wore on.

The United States came close multiple times in the dying minutes of the game, but it was clearly just a matter of game management for Colombia. In the buildup to the match, Klinsmann repeatedly labeled this game as an opportunity for his team to benchmark themselves against one of the world’s best and, well, his prediction came true. Just not in the way he hoped it would.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.