It was a frustrating Friday night for the US national team, which fell 2-0 to Colombia in its Copa America Centenario Group A opener and in no moment was it more evident than when Colorado Rapids midfielder Jermaine Jones took his seat on the bench following a 66th minute substitution.
After the match, Jones gave fans a window into his views on the source of the US midfield struggles and he also provided a recommendation for what he'd like to see from the group in the upcoming matches.
“The game plan was the whole time that we double Cuadrado [Colombia winger] on the left side, and that was, for me, the main thing,” said Jones, who was replaced by Darlington Nagbe in the 66th minute. “So I have to give a lot of energy to work back and help [left back Fabian Johnson] ... So I came away from my own game.”
“I think that we have to be more focused on us, play with that what we have,” Jones said. “We have three midfielders where I feel like if we have a good game plan, we can put a lot of pressure on other teams. Today was more focused on Colombia and on the left side to help Fabi, so we lost one guy in midfield. So it was tougher to play, yeah."
