SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Tournament soccer can be a cruel beast, as the US national team learned all too well in their Copa América Centenario opener against Colombia on Friday evening.
Heading into the tournament boasting a fresh crop of exciting talent and coming off a scintillating warm-up win against Bolivia, the USMNT were brought back down to earth in a 2-0 loss to an incisive and well-drilled Colombian team.
Now, they know they must realistically earn a win against CONCACAF rivals Costa Rica to keep their hopes of advancing from Group A alive, let alone reach head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s stated goal of reaching the semifinals. And while Klinsmann – who got a vote of support from opposite number Jose Pekerman after the game – was generally positive about his team’s showing despite the loss, he threw in one little nugget to remind reporters at his postgame press conference that his team’s Copa América fate hung in the balance.
“I think that the players take a lot out of this game and obviously even more hunger towards the second game now, because obviously we are with our back against the wall,” he said. “We need three points against Costa Rica, but there’s a lot of positives.”
Veteran forward Clint Dempsey, who had all of the United States’ best chances in the game, was a little more direct in his assessment of what the game against Costa Rica would mean.
“It’s one of those games – if you want to keep going in the tournament, you’ve got to win,” he told reporters of Tuesday’s upcoming after the game. “So it’s kind of a must-win for us.”
There are, of course, five more Group A games to be played, the next of which is Saturday’s clash between the Ticos and Paraguay.
A draw there in Orlando would be the ideal result for the US – it would enable them, with a win over Costa Rica on Tuesday, to head into the final game of the group stage in second place, provided Colombia defeat or draw with Paraguay, also on Tuesday.
A win for either side would create a somewhat more difficult – albeit still manageable – path for the US, who remain focused on winning out in the group despite a disappointing result in their opener.
“I think it’s really important for our players to … come out of this game and say, ‘OK, three points to them,’” Klinsmann remarked. "But that’s absolutely no problem now going forward and saying, ‘We play Costa Rica to get three points and then we play Paraguay to get three points, and we’re in the quarterfinals.’“
Said US captain Michael Bradley: “There’s two more [games] to go. Now the response has to be strong and the mentality has to be right so that we can respond in a good way.”
