Colombia became the first team to reach the quarter-finals of the Copa America Centenario on Tuesday after goals from Carlos Bacca and James Rodriguez fired them a 2-1 win over Paraguay in Group A.
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Paraguay were largely outplayed by Colombia in the first half, and after 30 minutes the score was 2-0 to the Los Cafeteros – this time it was Rodriguez who was the scorer.
Colombia coach Jose Pekerman might be wondering if 10 changes was a few too many after his team went down 3-2 against Costa Rica in their final Copa America Centenario group game.
Moments after DeAndre Yedlin’s poor clearing attempt nearly set up an early goal for Costa Rica’s Joel Campbell, the Americans started to find their way.
Clint Dempsey played a part in three of the United States’ goals, with two assists and one goal.
In just the seventh minute, referee Roddy Zambrano pointed to the spot after Bobby Wood was pushed in the back by defender Christian Gamboa in the left side of the box as both positioned to claim DeAndre Yedlin’s right-sided cross.
“But when the first goal came we kept pushing for the next one and the next one”.
“I think it was, overall, a very, very pleasant performance”, Klinsmann said. The U.S. was outshot 13-12 in that 2-0 loss, including 7-2 on goal.
The win somehow eased the pressure off under-fire coach Klinsmann, who said before the tournament that the Unites States are aiming to finish at least in the semifinals of this summer’s Copa. If Klinsmann wasn’t already aware of the seriousness of the situation, his boss Sunil Gulati ratcheted up the heat on the morning of the game, saying “We have to win games” and that “No one has ironclad job security”.
It was Dempsey’s 50th worldwide goal.
Paraguay had a scoreless draw with Costa Rica in its opener last Saturday so clearly goal-scoring has been an issue for them.
The United States entered the tournament sporting solid +700 odds to emerge as champions in its first Copa America appearance since 2007, but were unable to keep pace with a highly skilled Colombian side in its first loss in seven matches on home turf. The forward turned and powered a right-footed shot from 17 yards past a diving Pemberton into the near post for a stunning 3-0 lead the United States of America took into the half.
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Klinsmann, who reiterated his belief that this is the most hard group in the tournament, said: “It took a little bit to kind of grind ourselves into the game in the first 15-20 minutes, but once the first goal came, we kept pushing for the next one and then pushing for the next one”.
