Copa America Semifinals

I wrote that USA losing 2-1 to Argentina was an optimistic prediction and, man, was I proven right about that. I would love to look back at that game and see a 2-1 loss for USA.

Imagine you're playing a match against Roger Federer, you've got solid groundstrokes, a world class backhand, fantastic footwork but you can't serve worth a shit and your return isn't very good. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) If a rally breaks out, you'll have a chance--you might even win a majority of points...but a rally isn't going to break out and you're gonna get smoked. Likewise, USA put 11 soccer players on the field, they wore uniforms and cleats, they ran around like world class athletes...but they didn't control the ball for more than 15 seconds at a time. Thus, USA was never in this game--never even close to getting within shouting distanace of being in this game. Some complained that the USA players gave up but I didn't see it that way. Look, man, when everything you've tried has failed for 60 solid minutes, what are you gonna do in the last 30? Dude, nothing worked, nothing at all. It isn't that they didn't try, they didn't succeed and by the end there was no success even imaginable.

I watched the post-game press conference, where the reporters asked a lot about USA's nervousness and deference to a superior Argentine squad. (Let me just say this: reporters live in a bubble where they invent their own news, where the convenient storyline is what they considered the 'news' rather than what actually transpired. *smh* The reporters totally missed the point of the game and, frankly, wasted Coach Klinnsman's time, made him answer dumb questions and never bothered to ask worthwhile ones. Like, what was the gameplan tonight, Coach? Were we bunkering or pushing forward? Looked like we were trying to do both and didn't do either. My suggestion going into the game was a 3-6-1 where the defenders are locked in front of the goal and the midfield is swamped with counterattack opportunities, which is kinda what USA ended up with by the end. While a semi-final appearance in the Copa America is a good result, USA's crushing defeat when the pressure was on is still quite disconcerting.

Okay, time to move on. Colombia beat USA 2-0 in the very first game of this tourney but I'm expecting a much better result tonight. I'd love to see a win, wouldn't be at all surprised if USA hung a shocker on Colombia. But that requires USA picking up its game. Suggestions: I'm ready for Nagbe to start, I'm ready for Bradley and Wondolowski to exit the rotation, and I can live with Pulisic off the bench but I wouldn't mind seeing him for 90 minutes (in Jermaine Jones' spot). I look forward to seeing Dempsey up front, wouldn't mind seeing Tim Howard in this game becuase I think this might (should) be the last time we see either of those guys in USA uniforms. Bradley was always a bit overhyped but still better than anyone else at that spot but now I'm not sure what he does anymore that can't be done by some youngster with more fire (I'd rather go down fighting rather than going down by passing backward). Push the ball forward aggressively against the Colombians because there's a decent chance that Colombia has already checked out and won't be bringing their A+ lineup. The easy call is to say this game goes to penalty kicks, where anything can happen, but I want to see USA win and I think they can.

Argentina reminded me of that dominant run Spain had recently: dominated possession, no bad passes, solid on-ball defense, pounced on every mistake and had plenty o' shots. Chile, too, is steady balling right now, this is going to be a balls-out final. Can't wait. I'll go with Argentina to take it in PK's (Higuain will be the star).