LANDOVER, Md. — The U.S. men’s national team entered its June window seeking to gain valuable experience against two of CONMEBOL’s best, but Gregg Berhalter’s side instead began with their worst defeat in recent time.
A 5-1 blowout loss to Colombia at Commanders Field marked the first time since 2009 that the Americans conceded five goals in a match. It also was the largest margin of defeat for the USMNT during Berhalter’s two spells as head coach and one that won’t have fans too excited heading into the upcoming Copa America.
“Really disappointed, obviously, with the result,” Berhalter said in his postmatch press conference. “We’re not framing it as a lesson learned, we’re actually framing it as a wake-up call.
“Really poor performance against a top team, and if you give a team like that the opportunities we gave them, you’re going to have no chance to win. It’s never going to happen From the 75th minute on, I think it was I think a lack of respect for our opponents [and] for the game of soccer,” he added.
There were mistakes galore from the USMNT, who never really got into sync in the full 90 minutes. Jhon Arias’ sixth-minute opener came off a missed Antonee Robinson clearance while Rafael Borre’s overhead finish in the 19th minute occurred after Jefferson Lerma beat both Johnny Cardoso and Joe Scally to a header off a corner kick.
Despite Tim Weah’s clinical finish in the second half to cut the USMNT’s deficit in half, the errors and mental breakdowns continued. Richard Rios’ right-footed strike with 13 minutes to play came after Yunus Musah was a step behind Luis Sinisterra’s cut back cross.
Weah’s turnover in the 84th minute allowed Jorge Carrascal to curl home Colombia’s fourth goal of the match before Cameron Carter-Vickers’ errant pass four minutes later allowed Sinisterra to deliver his first international goal since 2022.
It was a shocking performance from the USMNT defensively, who admitted their performance needs to improve majorly if they want to avoid an early exit from the Copa America.
“We were nowhere near the level that we need to play at if we want to win games, coming into Copa América,” said USMNT captain Christian Pulisic. “Absolutely, yeah, for sure it’s better that it happened now. But we can’t be anywhere near playing like that and expect to win games.”
Attacking wise, the USMNT also struggled to offer much in the match despite cutting the deficit in half at 2-1. Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, and Haji Wright were held in check while Malik Tillman and Luca De La Torre didn’t offer much off the bench.
Colombia’s stubborn defense held the USMNT to only one shot on target, another trend that needs to change, starting with Wednesday’s final tune-up vs. No. 5 ranked Brazil. Improving on the defensive end needs to be a starting point against La Seleção, but also not being afraid to try things in the final third is also a must.
“For us, it’s just about respecting the game,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “I think we’re a good team, no doubt about that. We had some bright moments within the game, fought back, 2-1 down, really pushing forward. But then it’s just a bit of a naivety, respecting the game, respecting what the opponent brings. We really just opened up and allowed them to do exactly what they were planning on doing to us.”
“There were some positive chunks in the match, but overall at 5-1 it’s hard to truly say it was a good performance,” Berhalter said. “We will look back at it and try to see what we can fix for Wednesday because it will be another tough opponent in Brazil.”
