When United States Men’s National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann sat down in his post-match press conference following the United States’ 2-0 loss to Colombia, he seemed relatively pleased with the performance from his side. However, he may well have been the only one to feel that way. Though the United States created a couple of decent chances, had more possession, and could feel slightly aggrieved at the way they conceded their goals, they also have no right to try and talk about outplaying Colombia. Make no bones about it, the Yanks were poor.
Nightmare start
They got off to the worst possible start, conceding a soft goal off a corner kick less than 10 minutes into the match. From there, they struggled to break down Los Cafeteros and often resorted to hitting hopeful balls in behind the defense, searching for the enterprising runs of Gyasi Zardes and Bobby Wood because they couldn’t find room between the lines. The penalty kick which ensued from Deandre Yedlin’s handball was not without controversy, but it can be argued the Americans deserved it given how poorly they gave the ball away in the lead-up to it.
After the break, the host nation were remarkably poor—it took them 14 minutes to have a second foray into the attacking third. They eventually improved, and did force a goal-line clearance off a corner and a fantastic save from David Ospina to keep the match at 2-0. That was how the match ended, with the Americans 2-0 down and thoroughly disappointed with the result.
Are laments acceptable?
It would be quite easy for the nation to solely latch on to all of the negatives of this match. The ineptitude with which the Americans attacked, the occasionally porous nature of the defense when James Rodriguez, Juan Cuadrado, and Carlos Bacca combined, and the manner in which both goals were conceded all left viewers with a less than pleased feeling after the final whistle sounded. However, this result wasn’t completely unexpected.
Though the 4-0 victory over Bolivia was a good performance, it was always going to raise expectations even though it was nowhere near representative of the quality Colombia would bring. For all that the FIFA World Rankings are rightly castigated for being an inaccurate barometer of international teams’ standings in the world, Colombia are ranked 3rd. Bolivia are 82nd. That may flatter them. The only team which could challenge them for the moniker of worst in CONMEBOL is Venezuela. Frankly, the largely unimpressive 1-0 victory over Ecuador gave a far better barometer for home the opening match of the tournament would go.
In that one, the United States was hugely unimpressive for the opening 45 minutes, and lucky not to head into the break a goal down. They were far better in the second half, and were rewarded with a goal; yet, they weren’t clearly the better side on that night. On Friday night, they didn’t do enough to win. Colombia were the better side, and deserved to win, though the scoreline probably doesn’t do justice to the true story of the match.
Hope not lost for USMNT
Here’s the thing: the opening match shouldn’t matter too much for the US. Do statistics tell us that teams who lose their opening match at a major tournament advance far less often than do teams that do win the first match? Yes. However, that statistic is often spun to mean something it doesn’t really. While that is undoubtedly true, what often isn’t mentioned is that really good teams tend to win their first match while really bad teams normally lose their first match. So, the teams who lose that first match normally don’t have any hopes or expectations of advancing. That characterization does not apply to the United States.
They have every hope and expectation of moving on, especially now that Group play gets much easier. Colombia is, by far, the most difficult opponent which the hosts have to play. Though they head to Chicago for Tuesday’s match with Costa Rica knowing that they must emerge from Soldier Field with all three points, that’s not something which the team ought to find overly daunting. For a team that considers itself the best in CONCACAF, beating a team that didn’t make the Final at last summer’s Gold Cup should be manageable.
After the Costa Rica match, the US will head out East to play Paraguay in Philadelphia. Assuming that they emerge from Tuesday’s match with at least a point, and likely all three, they’ll still need a result, and probably a win, to ensure they move on to the Quarterfinals. That is another match which the hosts will think they can win. They have it all to do, but that doesn’t mean they cannot or will not do it.
2nd place in Group A isn't a death sentence
One other stick which the USMNT could be beaten with is that this ruins any hopes that they could finish top of the group. Given the way that the tournament is structured, the winner of Group A takes on the Group B runner-up in one Quarterfinal while the Group A runner-up gets the Group B winner. This means that the Group B runner-up will likely get Brazil. Yet, this is far from the worst time to play Brazil. They’re without Neymar, boast a patchwork defense, and have had to call in a number players for this tournament that didn’t expect to be there because of injuries. In other words, they’re well below strength.
This all means that, as normal as it is to complain about Friday’s result, this changes little for the US. They need to rebound, and need to somewhere between four and six points from their final two matches to move on. They must play better, and have to find a way to create more chances. But, the bottom line is that they still have every chance of moving on. Now, all that’s left is to go and do it.