United States learns harsh lesson in 4-2 home defeat to Colombia
A crowd of 38,631 saw the United States Men’s National Team comfortably defeated by Colombia at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Thursday evening.
A bright start by the visitors saw Falcao unleash a powerful volley inside the six-yard box that fizzed wide of the right hand post in the third minute and it served as warning to the USA that more was to come. The fact that it took until the 36th minute was something of a surprise but it was no surprise the inspiration came from James Rodriguez (pictured above.) The Bayern Munich star produced a moment of magic to break the deadlock with a stunning effort from the edge of the area in the 36th minute as he curled a fine effort inside the left hand upright past the stranded Zack Steffen to give Colombia a deserved lead going into half time.
The USA then hit back to take the lead courtesy of two goals in three minutes via Kellyn Acosta (pictured above) and Bobby Wood (pictured below right) to start the second half. Antonee Robinson looped a cross in from the left that deflected slightly off Davinson Sanchez and Acosta applied a smart volleyed finish past the helpless David Ospina to level things up in the 50th minute.
The goal seemed to rattle the visitors and they were stunned three minutes later when Wood managed to get between two defenders and poked the ball into the back of the net from Tim Weah’s cross to give the USA a surprising lead.
Galvanized by falling behind, Colombia pulled level in the 56th minute as Santiago Arias broke down the right from a throw in and centered for Bacca whose first time strike near the penalty spot beat Steffen inside his left hand post.
Colombia then dominated play and in the 74th minute they reaped their rewards with a well worked counter attack. Rodriguez looped the ball forward for Bacca who held up play before sending a nifty back heel into Quintero’s path. The 25 year old then picked out Falcao who bent a neat finish inside the lower right post for the 3-2 lead.
Los Cafeteros increased their advantages five minutes later as Arias ran free down the right hand side. He played a sharp pass into Rodriguez who in turn fed Borja and the forward’s bicycle kick from the left side sneaked past the diving Steffen to go in off the post and send 75%s of the stadium into mass hysteria.
Overall it was a fine performance by the visitors but it left the USA with more questions than answers. Most perplexing was why at least 3/4’s of the stadium was filled with Colombian supporters and so few US supporters turned out.
It’s clear that the USA has many problems to solve. The gap in quality between the two sides was stark and US soccer really has to think hard about how it is going to rectify the damage done by failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Final Score: USA 2 Colombia 4
Lineups:
USA: 12-Zack Steffen; 2-DeAndre Yedlin, 3-Matt Miazga, 6-John Brooks, 17-Antonee Robinson (19-Ben Sweat, 75); 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 23-Kellyn Acosta; 11-Tim Weah (8-Marky Delgado, 68), 16-Julian Green (13-Josh Sargent, 80), 10-Kenny Saief (14-Fafa Picault, 58); 7-Bobby Wood (9-Andrija Novakovich, 80)
Substitutes not used: 1-Brad Guzan, 5-Cameron Carter-Vickers, 18-Reggie Cannon, 20-Wil Trapp
Head coach: Dave Sarachan
COL: 1-David Ospina; 4-Santiago Arias, 23-Davinson Sanchez, 22-Jeison Murillo, 21-Deiver Machado; 15-Mateus Uribe, 5-Wilmar Barrios (18-Juan Daniel Roa, 89), 11-Juan Guillermo Cuadrado (20-Juan Fernando Quintero, 55, 17-Yimmi Chara, 83), 10-James Rodriguez (6-Didier Moreno, 82); 9-Radamel Falcao (capt.) (8-Edwin Cardona, 76), 7-Carlos Bacca (19-Miguel Angel Borja, 76)
Substitutes not used: 12-Alvaro Montero, 13-Helibelton Palacios, 16-Cristian Alexis Borja, 3-Oscar Murillo, 2-Felipe Aguilar, 24-Sebastian Villa
Head coach: Arturo Reyes
Attendance: 38,631
More photos at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com
