The United States men’s national team was paired with the toughest possible opponents out of each seeded pot, filling out Group A with Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay during Sunday’s 2016 Copa America Centenario draw in New York City.
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Both finalists will restart their rivalry in the first game of the group with Panama and Bolivia the other teams in the group.
This summer, it’s another “group of death” for the United States, which will be joined by Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay in Group A. “They know who they’re playing against”. The U.S. probably should not want to face the Brazilians, even if Klinsmann has learned lessons from his tactical errors in a 4-1 loss to the Seleçao in September in Foxborough, Mass.
Costa Rica is ranked 31st, second in the North and Central America and Caribbean region behind Mexico, which is 22nd.
In the opener of a special 16-nation tournament whose business deals led to indictments against a slew of top soccer executives on corruption charges, the Americans play the Colombians on June 3 at Santa Clara, California.
Argentina, a 14-times victor of the championship and host of the inaugural competition in 1916, begins Group D play against defending champions Chile on June 6 at Levi’s Stadium.
The match may carry a good omen for the United States, who beat Colombia in the 1994 World Cup group stages, a game made infamous by the own goal from Colombian defender Andres Escobar, who was later murdered in his homeland in an apparent reprisal.
The Copa America Centenario honors 100 years of the Copa America tournament and will feature some of the world’s best teams and players. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said ahead of the draw that he had hoped to avoid Colombia and Chile, but instead the No. 32 Americans got a hard draw with Costa Rica and Paraguay and the Colombians. “Now we can’t be scared after what we did at the World Cup”, Costa Rica head coach Oscar Ramirez said. A successful run in this summer’s Copa America Centenario would go a long way in helping the team and the soccer community move on from the tough defeat against Mexico.
On Sunday evening, the draw was held to determine the schedule. The CONCACAF Gold Cup will take on Uruguay in its opening match at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on June 5.
Like any draw that I’ve either attended or watched on TV, my primary interest was to see what group the United States would get. Besler most recently played 180 minutes for the U.S. MNT in two January Camp matches against Iceland and Canada. For more details on the games, teams and to buy tickets, visit the Copa America 2016 website.
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“I think it’s just a fantastic opportunity for us to show that the game is getting bigger and bigger and bigger”, said Klinsmann.
