In the opening night of Copa America 2016, Colombia defeated hosts U.S. 2:0.
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“Give the three points to them, but, you know, it’s absolutely no problem now going forward and saying we play Costa Rica to get three points, and we play Paraguay to get three points, and then we’re in the quarterfinals”, he said.
In spite of USA’s attempts to take control over the game, Colombia was fortunate as well as equipped.
– James capitalized on a DeAndre Yedlin handball in the box and converted the resulting penalty. “We’re disappointed, obviously. But I thought we were the better team”.
US “played OK in patches” but was in general “a disappointment”, the British newspaper;s live report said. The fallout is that the US desperately needs three points against Costa Rica on Tuesday in Chicago or the host country could be gone before the tournament really gets started.
In the meantime, home hopes were raised when Dempsey saw his header from a Michael Bradley bending corner and a curling free kick on 64th minute was cleared off by Perez and David Ospina respectively. Colombia dominated, with Carlos Bacca putting a shot of the crossbar in the 77th minute.
Luck may be on the side of the USA, as its only three wins against Colombia have all come in California, where the first match is being played at Levi’s Stadium.
Nor was the sense that if the United States is to reach the knockout stages, it might take Nagbe and Pulisic being more than second-half substitutes.
Just hours before the start of the tournament, the Copa America Centenario Local Organizing Committee confirmed that it has received written approval from Federation Internationale de Football Association to allow a fourth substitution in the final if the game heads into extra time.
Alejandro Bedoya was given a yellow card in the 57th minute for the US for his late challenge. Held scoreless, the United States had a trio of opportunities to score — a couple off of dead balls in the offensive zone and another on a Clint Dempsey shot that he pushed just wide from 25 yards out.
Klinsmann no doubt will be calling on his team to step up the intensity and ensure his team get in the faces of their opponents. Tuesday night against Costa Rica is a big game for the United States, for the tournament and future of the team.
Dempsey had another excellent chance to get the USA on the board on a free kick moments later that almost found the right corner of the net, but Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina made a diving save.
We heard all week that the one area the USA would have a distinct advantage over Colombia in would be on set pieces (both defensively and offensively). Bradley is one of the country’s top players and team captain, but when he struggles there is no way the US can get results from the top teams in the world. The first cut came after just seven minutes, when Christian Zapata drove home a low Edwin Cardona corner. With Bradley marking Daniel Torres, Zapata circled around the pair to get away from Cameron, and the defender scored his first goal in 42 global appearances.
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American midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, whose father was born in Colombia, argued with Garcia to no avail, and Rodriguez fired a left-footed penalty kick past Guzan, who had dived the other way, for his 15th goal in 43 appearances.
