Action from the Copa America Centenario semifinal between the host US (white jersey) and Argentina on June 21, 2016, in Houston.
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The teams are set to tangle tonight in Chicago. They’ve dominated thus far, dispatching Chile 2-1, pummeling Panama 5-0, throttling Bolivia 3-0 and dismantling Venezuela 4-1 to reach the semis.
Hosting a special, expanded 16-nation edition of South America’s championship to celebrate Copa America’s 100th anniversary, the US won a hard group that included third-ranked Colombia and then beat No. 13 Ecuador in the quarterfinals. That gave Messi a free kick and the legendary striker showed his brilliance by burying a 30-yard attempt – bending a left-footed strike into the upper right corner.
Argentina, behind fine performances from Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, cruised to a 4-0 semifinal victory Tuesday over the United States in Houston. After losing to Germany in extra time of the 2014 World Cup and to Chile in penalty kicks in last year’s Copa America final, Argentina is poised to lift the country’s first major title since the 1993 Copa America. Regardless, Klinsmann will likely swap in Christian Pulisic for Wood, Graham Zusi for Bedoya, and Kyle Beckerman for Jones. A change in formation with Clint Dempsey and Chris Wondolowski in attack resulted in zero shots on goal. The U.S. hopes this is one of those matches.
“It’s a special team Argentina”, he added. They outscored their opponents 10-1 in those matches. The good thing for the United States is that the expectations are insane low; nobody expects it to beat a country that made it to the World Cup final just two years ago.
“We let them in into a flow, and we weren’t physical enough”, usa defender Geoff Cameron said. La Albiceleste charged into the final with a 4-0 win over the U.S. with goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi, Messi and Gonzalo Higuain. The COPA America Centenario Pregame begins on Fox Sports 1 at 7 p.m., with postgame analysis beginning around 11 p.m. ET. But the United States is not done.
The United States’ defense has played well during Copa America, allowing just three goals in four matches. The top-ranked Argentines were never threatened.
Lionel Messi, who dazzled US soccer fans with a hat trick off the bench in Chicago, set an Argentina record with his 55th career goal off of a stunning free kick in the upper- right corner of the goal.
Here’s the thing. In the grand scheme of things, it was a bad day, an embarrassing display, but it wasn’t some kind of larger referendum on the state of the national team program.
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The U.S. men’s team has had nowhere close to the tournament success the women’s team has had.
