The Copa America is South America’s championship, but a special 100th anniversary tournament was scheduled for this year and includes six nations from North and Central America and the Caribbean.
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For the final, the Copa Centenario is implementing the extra fourth substitute in extra time should the game require it. It will be the first competition to implement the new 2016/17 Laws of the Game regulations, after getting approval from Federation Internationale de Football Association. Midfielder Jermaine Jones had a scoring opportunity in Colombia’s box off a 24th minute free kick, but sent his headed shot wide.
It is worth noting, James Rodriguez left the match in the 73rd minute with an apparent shoulder injury.
The US failed to put much pressure on the Colombia goal after that, and the game finished 2-0.
Bacca nearly added some gloss to the score line with 14 minutes remaining but the AC Milan striker rattled the crossbar, not that it impacted the result as U.S. was left winless from its last six Copa America appearances, dating back to 1995.
Colombia’s winger Edwin Cordona had a quite performance.
U.S. will look to rebound on Tuesday against Costa Rica and then close their group stage four days later against Paraguay at Philadelphia.
Colombia, who is now ranked number three in the world, has some world-class names in its lineup, including captain James Rodriguez and Juventus Midfielder Juan Cuadrado. But for those big time soccer fans, there’s no Radamel Falcao or Jackson Martinez.
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann clung to the belief his team played evenly against the third-ranked Colombians.
It continued Saturday with a dour and cynical nil-nil tie between Costa Rica and Paraguay as the upper deck in Orlando looked empty.
The U.S defense will have its work cut out against the Colombian attack.
“It’s obviously disappointing and frustrating because I think they were there for the taking”, defender Geoff Cameron said. Holding onto the ball and building slowly in attack will go a long way to allowing the U.S.to stay in the game.
The language from the US players and coaching staff afterward said this was a missed opportunity.
Rodriguez came down hard on his left shoulder in the second half after tripping over US captain Michael Bradley, and Rodriguez exited in the 73rd minute. Dempsey makes his 124th senior appearance for his country and is sitting on a tally of 49 goals.
With Los Cafeteros satisfied to protect their lead, the United States fared better in the second half. Colombia has too much talent for the usa and will control the ball and create chance after chance as it marches to victory in the opener.
They won the first match in each of two CONCACAF Gold Cups (Belize and Honduras), as well as the 2014 World Cup (Ghana).
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Colombia are favorites in the betting markets, but only slightly.
