Landover, Maryland — The U.S. Men’s National Team’s Copa America preparations began with a 5-1 loss. Columbia Saturday’s game was the worst defeat for coach Gregg Berhalter’s team. John Elias and Rafael Santos Bolle, the USMNT received some good passing and was able to get a goal back. Folarin Balogun Tim Weah scored a goal for Colombia in the 77th minute. Richard RiosWith the game already out of reach, Jorge Carrascal quickly scored a fourth goal and Luis Sinisterla added a fifth to put Colombia back on track. The Americans faced their toughest opponent this year, 12th-ranked Colombia, but the match showed they still have a lot of work to do.
This was a friendly match aimed at Berhalter learning about the team. Christian Pulisic Haji Wright was sent off at half-time. Tim Ream and Weston McKennie Both players were sent off before the end of the game, but they need to improve quickly before the Copa America kicks off against Bolivia on June 21. They have a friendly on Wednesday, but it will be against a tougher team. Brazil America is stepping up.
How it happened
The game got off to a terrible start just six minutes into the game, when an Antonee Robinson clearance fell at the feet of Arias, who fired a shot at Matt Turner that he couldn’t stop, giving the U.S. the lead. That was bad enough, but just 13 minutes later, Santos Borre found the back of the net with a bicycle kick after losing the ball on the first of a corner kick. The two goals on their own aren’t too bad, but when they were combined on the same halftime break, the U.S. was completely back on its feet.
Sure, Balogun was unlucky not to score and the USMNT attack found some good pockets with Gio Reyna finding a way out of a tight area, but you can’t beat a team like Colombia by just being good heading into the Copa America. These are games where the USMNT need to unleash a new gear, and it’s a gear they haven’t shown so far playing under coach Berhalter.
This is why they’re playing games like this against the best teams in the world, but so far not much has been revealed other than what we already know. Colombia knows their identity and can rely on counter-attacking, but too much rotation made the USMNT defense look disjointed. The substitution of Sergino Dest is a process, but the lack of balance in the USMNT’s build-up is one that will be lost without his ability on the ball.
Things weren’t much better in the second half, with Colombia getting plenty of chances to get past the USMNT defenders and put their shots on goal. Robinson seemed to struggle to deal with overloads down the left flank, and while the USMNT attack created chances, they couldn’t do enough to stop Colombia’s counterattacks when they had the chance to push forward. Overall, some of this was down to Dest’s absence, but with a major tournament on the horizon, the hesitation is only cause for concern.
The Copa America is an opportunity for the U.S. national team to learn a lot about itself, good or bad, heading into 2026, but failure to correct the mistakes made in Landover on Saturday could lead to early elimination from the tournament.
