With the Copa America being staged outside of South America for the first time, there was plenty of hype surrounding the US but the host nation was left silenced as captain James Rodriguez and Cristian Zapata inspired Colombia in the Group A opener at Levi’s Stadium. The win gives Colombia three points to start the 45 edition of Copa America while the United States will have to wait until their match against Costa Rica to try and make a dent in the standings.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) – The United States would have preferred a far better first impression in the Copa America opener.
“It’s obviously disappointing and frustrating because I think they were there for the taking”, defender Geoff Cameron said.
Thousands of yellow-clad fans at $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium chanted “Co-lom-bia!” The forgotten Real Madrid striker who two years ago led all World Cup scorers with six goals sent a sizzling shot to the left as Guzan guessed the opposite direction. After this result, it’s pretty much assured Colombia will take first, which means the best the US can get is second.
Colombia coach Jose Pekerman was optimistic that “external” factors would not influence the game. Stoke City defender Geoff Cameron was caught ball-watching as Cristian Zapata curled behind the U.S. defense and volleyed the ball past Brad Guzan off a corner kick by Edwin Cardona.
Seconds earlier defender Geoff Cameron had done a nice job breaking up a unsafe play, stepping in front of a Colombian attacker and pushing the ball over the end line.
The U.S. had a few moments in the second half when it looked like it would get a goal back.
The United States, hosting the tournament for the first time and looking for some consistency after a hard year, showed fight late in the second half but were unable to finish what chances they created. U.S. captain Michael Bradley gave the ball away in a bad position, and a cross sent in by Colombia shortly after found the hand of DeAndre Yedlin, who was called for a controversial PK.
The 23-year-old said he could not support Team USA until the country improved its approach to training young players, putting less emphasis on winning and more on the fundamentals of the game.
Edwin Cardona’s deep corner was met first time on the volley by Zapata, with the 29-year-old defender’s composed effort finding the bottom corner of the United States net for the opening goal of the special 100th anniversary competition.
Minutes later, referee Roberto Garcia Orozco called a penalty on the USMNT’s DeAndre Yedlin.
Jurgen Klinsmann has been walking a tight rope ever since their failure in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and another disappointment here might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Dempsey had a header cleared off the line by Sebastian Perez on the hour-mark and the Seattle Sounders star then forced Ospina into a diving save with his free-kick effort.
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Costa Rica’s private transportation services AVANTI Costa Rica. We know what we have to do. “We did show some good things. Soccer is something we die for”.
