The U.S. men’s national team suffered its biggest defeat since coach Gregg Berhalter took over, losing 5-1 to Colombia on Saturday at FedExField in Landover, Maryland.
In the first of two warm-up matches for the U.S. Men’s National Team ahead of this summer’s Copa America, the U.S. jumped out to a 2-0 lead inside the 19th minute on goals from Colombia’s John Arias and Rafael Borre.
Timothy Weah pulled one back for the home side with an improved performance early in the second half, but sloppy errors late on allowed Colombia to score and become the first team to score five times against the United States since Mexico in the 2009 Gold Cup final.
Richard Rios, Jorge Carrascal and Luis Sinisterra all beat Matt Turner with 13 minutes to play to hand the Americans their worst defeat since a loss to Costa Rica in 2016 that marked the end of coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure.
The result extended Colombia’s unbeaten streak to 22 games.
Things won’t get any easier for the U.S. in a friendly against five-time World Cup champion Brazil on Wednesday in Orlando, after the U.S. opens Copa America play on June 23 against Bolivia.
The U.S. is winless in its last five matches against South American teams since beating Ecuador 1-0 in 2019, with three of those matches ending in draws.
Greg Fiume/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
With a predominantly yellow-jersey-wearing pro-Colombia crowd at FedExField, U.S. players wore rainbow numbers on their jerseys in honor of Pride Month.
Colombia took the lead in the sixth minute when James Rodriguez fed a sliding Antonee Robinson with his left foot and passed to Arias, who got a touch on the ball to get past Tim Ream and then fired a shot from six yards out over the goalkeeper’s left shoulder, past Turner and into the near post for his second international goal.
Colombia doubled their lead in the 19th minute when Arias’ cross from a short corner was mis-cleared by US defender Tim Ream. Matheus Uribe continued the attack and Santos Borre fired an overhead kick from five yards out, sending the ball to Turner’s left wing for his sixth international goal.
The U.S. had not conceded two goals inside the first 20 minutes of a game since a 2-0 loss to Guatemala in March 2016 in World Cup qualifiers.
Weah, the son of Liberian President and former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, scored his sixth international goal with a low shot in the 58th minute.
For the first time in U.S. history, all 11 starting players have played for clubs in Europe’s top five leagues: England, Germany, Italy, Spain or France. In the 13 games in which full rosters can play since the 2022 World Cup, just six of the 143 starting lineups have been filled by Major League Soccer players, including three of the 99 games since Berhalter returned to the roster.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
