We aren’t interested in only playing counter-attack.
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Costa Rica had got on the board early when Johan Venegas curled home a stunning shot from 20 yards in only the second minute.
Colombia had already advanced to the knockout stages of the Copa America courtesy of their two victories in their first two games, and as a result they named a much-changed line-up.
“He just lost his head for a second”, Klinsmann said of the 22-year-old. He needs to make mistakes. “There’s no growth without failure, so he grew”.
DeAndre Yedlin from the usa received two yellow cards in quick succession for slide tackles on Miguel Samudio to be sent off early in the first half. Bradley received a red in the 2009 Confederations Cup.
As Paraguay continued to push for an equalizer, Brooks was consistently in the right place at the right time.
“It was hard situation”, added goalscorer Dempsey, who was substituted for defender Michael Orozco shortly after Yedlin’s ejection.
Brooks’ performance made a statement in the eyes of the USMNT manager and his starting goalkeeper.
“The first reaction is that it is inexperience”, Klinsmann said.
“The whole old story is the underdog story, and I can not hear that story anymore”, Klinsmann said after the U.S.’s 1-0 victory against Paraguay on Saturday. The center of defense has gone from inconsistent to nearly impregnable in the past two months thanks to the otherworldly play of John Brooks.
His side’s second-half showing also impressed Klinsmann. It would be a shame if the USA reached the semis with something well short of its best lineup.
And this US team wants to show them something. You run them through certain systems, shapes. They seemed to be bypassing me over at the near post and going to Brooksy’s head every single time. Despite the loss, Colombia moves forward to next round of Copa America 2016 play. It needs to start playing good teams toe-to-toe again in the knockout rounds of major tournaments-just like the USA did at World Cup 2002 against Mexico and at the 2009 Confederations Cup to beat Spain.
Marlos Moreno got one back for Colombia in the 73rd minute, but Costa Rica prevailed.
The combination of results means the United States will now play the runner-up from Group B, possibly avoiding five-time world champions Brazil who are favored to win their group.
“It’s getting more exciting”, the coach said. “You want to prove that you can win in these kind of tournaments”. Ecuador if it’s Ecuador, because we played the friendly obviously.
If the U.S. does skip Brazil in the quarterfinals and make the semis, the thank-you card to Costa Rica should mostly be addressed to Johan Venegas. “We have to take the game to them”.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our team to play these types of games”, said Klinsmann.
“It’s just growing and rising to the occasion”. If it’s Brazil they are the big-time favorites, five time World Champions. Why not be courageous? Seconds later he crunched into Miguel Samudio to earn his marching orders and put the Americans under heavy pressure. Jurgen Klinsmann’s final-four ambitions will look a little more achievable if the team is matched up against Peru or Ecuador in the next round instead of Brazil. But we need to keep our cool, try to find the spaces and score the first chance we have. Yes, they are friendly games.
“We know the game will be the most complicated one because they go through with a draw, and we must win. You beat some of them and that’s what the learning curve is”. But the giddy postgame celebration Saturday suggested neither the players nor the coach had been fully confident in that prediction.
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When teams come together and have that special cohesiveness and that team environment, I think you can go a long way.
