United States vs. Colombia – Kick Off Copa America in Santa Clara
The Copa America Centenario begins on Friday in Santa Clara with Group A action. The hosts, USA, will face off against Colombia. The United States played well in the lead-in matches to Copa America, but this is a much different challenge than matches against Ecuador, Bolivia and Puerto Rico. Colombia is the world’s No. 4 ranked team for a reason. Los Cafeteros have one of the best sides in the world, and they have a real chance to win Copa America. The match between United States and Colombia will take place on Friday, June 3, 2016, at 9:30 p.m. ET at Levi’s Stadium. The fixture will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
The United States men’s national soccer team comes into the tournament with a five-game winning streak. The USMNT will be counting on forward Clint Dempsey to have a big performance. The 33-year-old scored 10 goals for his country last season. His teammate forward Jozy Altidore is out with a hamstring injury so the USMNT is counting on Dempsey for a stellar performance.
Colombia has won all three games they’ve played in 2016. Colombia actually has comparable matches to the United States at this point. While the U.S. was playing against Bolivia and Ecuador in friendlies in May, Colombia faced off with both in March in World Cup qualifying. The final scores might not have been as impressive, but Los Cafeteros still took both of them with 3-2 and 3-1 results respectively. Colombia is counting on their star midfielder James Rodriguez, who is coming off a Champions League win with Real Madrid. Rodriguez didn’t perform as well as expected for his club, so Colombia is hoping Rodriquez will replicate his 2014 World Cup performance. If he can, Colombia has the ability to win the entire tournament.
The United States and Colombia have met four times since 2005. Columbia won two games, and the teams drawing once. They also met in the 2007 Copa America group stage, where Colombia won 1-0. Their last meeting was in a 2014 friendly and resulted in a 2-1 win for Colombia. Top Sports Blog thinks the best case result here for the United States is a draw, however we suspect Colombia will get the job done.
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