USMNT vs. Colombia: Results and Highlights

USA loses 5-1 to Colombia in Copa America preparation
Friendly
The U.S. men’s national team will look to bounce back against Brazil on June 12.

LANDOVER, Md. (June 8, 2024) – The U.S. Men’s National Team lost 5-1 to
The team played Colombia in an international friendly match leading up to the 2024 Copa America. The 55,494 fans in attendance was the second-largest attendance ever for a USMNT match hosted by the United States Soccer Association in Washington, DC.

Colombia’s agility in front of goal and ruthless punishment of U.S. mistakes determined the outcome on a warm afternoon at Commander’s Field in Landover, Maryland, in the first of two U.S. warm-up matches ahead of the 48th Copa America.

The match between the FIFA-ranked teams No. 11 (USA) and No. 12 (Colombia) was a tightly contested affair in front of a crowd of 55,494 with both teams having chances to score. The visitors were the more effective early on and a Tim Weah goal in the 58th minute halved the lead for the US, but a late Colombian charge thwarted any chance of a comeback.

Fluminense’s John Arias, who won the Bronze Ball at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, and Rafael Santos Borre of Brazil’s SC Internacional scored for Colombia inside the opening 20 minutes. Los Cafeteros’ strong start was fitting, as they came into the match in good form. They have not lost since February 2022 and are currently unbeaten in 22 consecutive matches (17 wins, 0 losses, 5 draws), 19 of which have come under Argentine coach Néstor Lourenzo. Colombia also enjoys an advantage over the United States, with 6 wins, 0 losses and 2 draws since their last loss to the United States in 2005.

The opening minutes in Landover, a few miles east of the nation’s largest city,
The match set the tone for the capital city as American striker Folarin Balogun had a shot on target just seconds after the opening whistle but his 18-yard effort sailed over the crossbar, and Arias made no mistake five minutes later with a rocket-like shot from close range.

In the ninth minute, Balogun reacted to a perfect long ball from U.S. left back Antonee Robinson and beat goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, but a Colombian defender cleared the ball on the goal line. Ten minutes later, Borre’s acrobatic bicycle kick put the visitors two up. In the 32nd minute, U.S. captain Christian Pulisic’s sharp near-post header was deflected by Vargas.

The game was relatively even, but Colombia’s strength in the penalty area separated the two teams at halftime. U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter replaced his World Cup scorer at the start of the second half, bringing on Haji Wright for Pulisic. And the Coventry City man made an immediate impact, narrowly missing a promising header in the 50th minute and testing the Colombian defence a few minutes later with a pass from Gio Reyna.

Just after the 60th minute, the U.S. was on the offensive again. Reyna and Wright were involved in the attack, but it was Weah who was the most productive. He found Balogun on the right wing, sprinted on the return pass and scored in a perfectly placed goal. It was Weah’s sixth goal for the U.S. and his first since scoring in a friendly against Uzbekistan in September 2023.

The hosts’ rally was short-lived, however. Multiple substitutions by both teams in the second half affected their coordination on the field. U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner made a beautiful diving save from a shot by Colombian captain James Rodriguez in the 64th minute to seal the win for his team. But the dam broke in the 77th minute, when the U.S. lost the ball in their own half and received three consecutive penalties as they tried to regain their rhythm in search of an equalizer.

Richard Ríos (Palmeiras) and Jorge Carrascal scored three goals in 11 minutes
(Dynamo Moscow) and Luis Sinisterla (Bournemouth) made the final difference.

Goal Scoring

Colombia — John Arias, 6 minutes: Colombia dominated possession down the U.S. left wing, and the ball found veteran playmaker James Rodriguez, who made a pass into the penalty area. Anthony Robinson dived and got a foot on the ball, but Arias raced past two U.S. defenders to grab the loose ball and fire a short-range shot just inside the near post. USA 0, Colombia 1
Colombia — Rafael Santos Borré (Jefferson Lerma), 19 minutes: A short corner was taken into the USA penalty area and centre back Tim Ream received it, but Colombia’s Lerma stole the second ball and headed it towards the left post, where Borre was there to blast an acrobatic six-yard bicycle kick past goalkeeper Matt Turner. USA 0, Colombia 2
USA — Tim Weah (Folarin Balogun), 58 mins: Good possession and some neat side-to-side build-up play led to Weir’s sixth goal. Gio Reyna and Haji Wright drew the Colombian defense to the USA’s left, where Weir fed Folarin Balogun on the right. Weir kept on running and reacted to Balogun’s perfectly timed through ball, beating the onrushing Colombian goalkeeper to the far post. USA 1, Colombia 2
Colombia — Richard Rios (Luis Sinisterra), 77th minute: American midfielder
Jonny Cardoso was tackled in midfield. Rios picked up the ball and
Sinisterra made a run from the right wing towards the penalty area. He dribbled towards the end line, held off Yunus Musa and cut off a deft cross towards the penalty spot. Rios was there and his shot bounced off Cameron Carter-Vickers and into the goal. USA 1, COL 3
Colombia — Jorge Carrascal (Juan Fernando Quintero): 85th minute: Tim Weir was caught by Carrascal on a dribble and the ball bounced back to Quintero. With the USA pushing forward, Quintero had room to move forward. Quintero slid the ball back to Carrascal on the left wing, who had enough time to position himself behind Turner. USA 1, Colombia 4
Colombia — Luis Sinisterra (Juan Fernando Quintero): 88th minute:
Colombia’s John Lucumi intercepted a pass from Cameron Carter-Vickers in midfield, and seconds later the ball was in the U.S. net. Lucumi quickly passed to Quintero, who made a diagonal pass to Sinisterra, who beat Turner and fired it in at the right post. All three Colombian players had five touches of the ball. U.S. 1, Colombia 5

• The average age of today’s starting eleven was 25 years, 237 days, making it the ninth-oldest roster under manager Gregg Berhalter and the third-oldest since 2021.
• Tim Weah scored his sixth international goal. He last scored for the United States on Sept. 9, 2023, in a 3-0 friendly win over Uzbekistan.
• Folarin Balogun assisted Weir’s goal in the second half, his third assist of the USMNT career.
• Christian Pulisic served as captain for the 22nd time tonight. As captain, the United States has won 16, lost three and drawn three. Pulisic now has a team-high 67 caps, tying him with Mike Sorber, who played at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, for 37th on the U.S. national team’s all-time caps list.
• Antonie Robinson started his fifth consecutive USMNT match today, while Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah all started their third consecutive 2024 matches.
• Tonight’s match marked the first time that the back four of Joe Scali, Chris Richards, Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson have started together, and the fourth time and second game in a row that Richards and Ream have teamed up in central defence.
• Tim Ream has earned 11 of his 57 caps after his 35th birthday, the third-most caps of any USMNT field player after the age of 35. He ranks behind only Fernando Clavijo (41 of 61 caps) and Thomas Dooley (24 of 81 caps).
• Goaltender Matt Turner, who will make his 40th career appearance tonight, has started 25 of the U.S.’ last 27 available matches dating back to Sept. 23, 2022, against Japan in Dusseldorf, Germany.
• Midfielder Jonny Cardoso made just his third career start tonight, his first since a 4-0 win over Ghana on Oct. 17, 2023 in Nashville.
• Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers made his 17th appearance for the U.S. Men’s National Team today as a second-half substitute, marking his first appearance with the team since the start of 2024.
• Midfielder Luca de la Torre also made his first appearance for the U.S. 2024 national team today, coming on as a second-half substitute to earn his 21st cap for the U.S. national team.
• Five USMNT starters made their first appearances against South American opponents: Folarin Balogun, Johnny Cardoso, Gio Reyna, Chris Richards and Matt Turner.
• Forward Josh Sargent (foot injury) was the only U.S. player who did not play tonight.
• Gregg Berhalter has a record of 43 wins, 15 losses and 12 draws in 70 games as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. Under Berhalter, the U.S. has one win, two losses and three draws in five games against South American teams.
• Today’s attendance of 55,494 is the third-highest attendance ever for a game played in the DMV area and the second-highest attendance ever for a U.S. Soccer Association-hosted USMNT game played in the DMV area.
• With today’s result, the USMNT now has a 3-14-5 overall record against Colombia, with the team’s last win coming on March 9, 2005, in a 3-0 victory in Fullerton, California. The team’s eight-game winless streak against Los Cafeteros is currently the second-longest streak against any opponent behind Brazil (11 games).

-US Men’s National Team Match Report-

Match: United States Men’s National Team vs. Colombia
date: June 8, 2024
competition: Friendly
venue: Commander’s Field, Landover, Maryland
Attendance: 55,494
kick off: 5:37pm
weather: 84 degrees, sunny

lineup:
united states of america: 1-Matt Turner, 3-Chris Richards, 5-Anthony Robinson, 7-Gio Reyna (17-Malik Tillman, 63 min)8-Weston McKennie (6-Yunus Musa, 71 min)10 – Christian Pulisic (captain) (19-Haji Wright, 45 min)13- Tim Ream (2-Cameron Carter-Vickers, 62 mins)15- Johnny Cardoso (14 – Luca de la Torre, 83 min.)20- Folarin Balogun (9 – Ricardo Pepi, 72 min.)21-Tim Weir, 22-Joe Scali
Subs: 18-Ethan Holbert, 25-Shawn Johnson, 4-Tyler Adams, 11-Brenden Aaronson, 12-Myles Robinson, 16-Shaq Moore, 23-Christopher Lund, 24-Mark McKenzie, 26-Timmy Tillman

Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter

column: 12-Camilo Vargas 23-Davinson Sanchez, 3-John Lukumi, 17-Johan Mojica, 21-Daniel Munoz; 16-Jefferson Lerma (5 – Kevin Castaño, 83 min)15- Mateus Uribe (6-Richard Rios, 45 min); 10- James Rodriguez (20-Juan Quintero, 71′), 7- Luis Diaz (18 – Luis Sinisterra, 71 min.)11 – John Arias (8-
Jorge Carrascal (62 min); 19-Rafael Borre (14-John Duran, 62 min)
Substitutes who did not play: 22-Yasser Azpurilla, 25-Alvaro Montero, 13-Yerry Mina, 1-David Ospina, 27-Deibell Machado, 4-Santiago Arias, 9-Miguel Borja, 2-Carlos Cuesta, 24-John Cordoba.

Head Coach: Nestor Gabriel Lorenzo

Statistical Overview: United States / Colombia
Number of shots: 10 / 15
Shots on goal: 2 / 6
Saves: 1 / 0
Corner kicks: 2 / 2
Fouls: 7 / 16
Offside: 2 / 2

Summary of fraudulent activity:
USA – Matt Turner (Booked) 69th minute

board member:
Referee: Fernando Hernandez Gómez (Mexico)
Assistant Referee 1: Michel Morales Morales (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico)
Fourth Official: Adonai Escobedo (Mexico)

Michelob Ultraman of the Match: N/A