By Toby Dunkelberg
Going into Friday’s matchup between the USA and Colombia, the question on pundit’s minds was how could the Americans hope to stop James Rodríguez and the rest of Los Cafeteros’s mighty attack? A quick glance at the 2-0 scoreline would point to a failure to do just that, but like so many other things in soccer, that only tells part of the story.
Consider the game again from the US perspective. James Rodríguez had little impact on the match outside of converting the penalty. Geoff Cameron and John Brooks, in only their second start together as a centerback pairing, looked to have developed a good working understanding of each other. And Colombia for all it’s attacking prowess, was kept scoreless in the run of play. Only scoring due to blown man-marking and a disputable handball. Absent were the goals at tail end of the game that plagued the US throughout the last year. The result was a 2-0 loss, but it was far from the total defensive collapse that US fans feared.
While game state played a large part in that somewhat positive taken away, when taken as a whole one can begin to understand US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s assessment of the two sides as “equal.” Defensively neither side let in a goal in the run of play and dealt well with each sides attackers.
Ultimately only Colombia was able to keep the clean sheet, as the US made two to many mistakes in the back. Geoff Cameron completely lost his mark in the 8th minute resulting in Cristian Zapata’s early goal, and DeAndre Yedlin failed to keeps his arms tucked in on a routine cross. Outside of those two miscues there was a lot to like defensively. Brooks and Cameron combined to allow only three shots on target from inside the 18 yard box. Two of which were the aforementioned goals. They also routinely dealt with Colombia’s runners, bodying Bacca, James, and Cardona off the ball, all while being aerial dominant in front of goal. Altogether that’s not a bad performance against the 3rd ranked team in the world.
The two of them provided little going forward though, doing little more than providing an outlet and passing the ball around. Neither managed to connect on a dead ball, despite the US having four corners and no less than three free kicks from 25 yards out.
Even so, a back line’s offensive contribution typically comes from the fullbacks, and with Fabian Johnson and Yedlin playing suiting up one would’ve expected that to ring true on Friday. Unfortunately Johnson was forced to stay at home while he struggled to handle Juan Cuadrado – the man who earned many peoples nod for man of the match. On the right side of the field, Yedlin struggled to combine with Bedoya who often roamed forward into the attacking band. He was also forced to sit back more in order to maintain the US’s defensive shape. As such he only managed one successful cross in his rare ventures forward.
Altogether that’s not a bad performance against the 3rd ranked team in the world. Were it not for those two gaffs the US back line would’ve had a match to be proud of. But soccer, being the harsh mistress that it is, cares little about how well you play if you let in two easy goals. In this sport and in tournaments specifically you need to win.
The US will have to do better against Costa Rica on Tuesday if they want to do that. What little margin for error they had is gone as they need a win to keep their tournament hopes in their own hands.
To do that, they’ll need to be more focused as a unit and can’t make any mistakes on the level of those made against Colombia. They need to deal with set pieces better, ensuring no runners get free. They can’t allow as many fouls in dangerous areas, and they need to try and offer something going forward so that they wont be constantly under pressure.
This is a talented US backline, perhaps the most talented we’ve ever seen. All four are either Premier League or Bundesliga starters capable of going toe to toe with any Costa Rican player individually. But it remains to be seen how well they can play together as a group. Against Colombia they showed promise but they’ll need to cash in on that promise and turn it into reality if they want to advance in Copa America.
The US has the pieces to keep a clean sheet, it’s a matter whether they can put it all together amidst the added pressure of needing a win Wednesday night in Chicago.
USMNT
Copa America
