KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The U.S. males’s nationwide crew crashed out of the 2024 Copa América right here on Monday after dropping a full-blooded struggle.
It squared as much as Uruguay, Group C’s strongest puncher. For an hour, it neutralized one of many Copa’s most spectacular contenders to this point. It endured bruising bodily duels. In moments, it appeared able to profitable.
What it wanted, although, was to attain.
Over 90 tense and frantic minutes right here at Arrowhead Stadium, it by no means did.
As an alternative, it conceded a controversial second-half purpose to Uruguay’s Mathías Olivera — which gave the impression to be offside, however was confirmed by a video evaluate — and misplaced 1-0.
Panama, enjoying concurrently, beat Bolivia 3-1, leaving the People in a distant third place and eradicated.
On the last whistle, some gamers sunk to the bottom; others keeled over on the waist; others simply stood there, defeated and dumbfounded.
In the long run, although, it was their earlier match that price them. They arrived in Kansas Metropolis wounded and reeling, overwhelmed by Panama and pushed to the brink in Group C. Per week in the past, it appeared so easy; all of a sudden, failure lurked within the bowels of Arrowhead, able to pounce if the U.S. couldn’t beat Uruguay, a flyweight big of the game.
“We’ve got to go and play the most effective sport of our lives,” Christian Pulisic stated Thursday.
On the eve of the Uruguay showdown, he amended that assertion; it was hyperbolic; “possibly I used to be a bit emotional,” he stated. However the dimension of the duty and the stakes have been clear. “We’ve got to play a extremely sturdy sport,” Pulisic stated.
Thirty hours later, they tried.
In some respects, they did.
However Uruguay was stronger. Uruguay is stronger. Uruguay was the crew that grew into Monday’s sport within the second half and compelled the U.S. to fade. Uruguay was the crew much less perturbed by the physicality.
The primary half was forceful and infrequently unhinged. Crunching tackles floored a number of gamers. Two — Uruguay’s Maxi Araujo and U.S. striker Folarin Balogun — exited with accidents after scary collisions.
It was additionally plagued by sketchy refereeing. On one event, official Kevin Ortega whistled for a foul on U.S. defender Chris Richards, and whipped out a yellow card — then tucked it away to permit Uruguay to play benefit. The ensuing likelihood practically yielded a gap purpose, however Tim Ream scrambled again to clear.
The U.S., basically, matched Uruguay’s depth — which was no straightforward feat. The People have been higher for the opening half-hour, a minor victory by itself given the energy of Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguayan crew.
However, as has been the case far too typically beneath head coach Gregg Berhalter, they couldn’t discover a purpose. They created simply 0.3 Anticipated Objectives to Uruguay’s 1.3.
“I imply, we had an excellent begin and introduced a number of power,” Pulisic stated postgame, “however on the finish of the day, simply not sufficient high quality. I felt like we gave it every thing, however we simply could not discover the options to attain.”
As soon as Panama scored within the twenty second minute in opposition to Bolivia in Group C’s different match, the U.S. needed to conjure some high quality; it needed to create one thing.
For a number of temporary second-half minutes, Bolivia gave the USMNT life. The Bolivians equalized in opposition to Panama. Had each video games resulted in a draw, the U.S. would have snuck by means of to the knockout rounds on purpose differential.
However lower than a minute after Bolivia’s purpose was confirmed by a video evaluate, the U.S. conceded on a set piece.
Panama later scored a second to return forward, after which a 3rd.
Uruguay maintained management, noticed out its 1-0 win, and despatched U.S. gamers trudging towards their locker room to confront failure, towards Copa América exits.
They trudged, crestfallen, shattered, despondent, sooner than anybody anticipated. Many had been requested within the previous weeks about expectations and benchmarks for the Copa; exterior assumptions have been {that a} quarterfinal berth can be acceptable and a semifinal profitable, however some gamers went additional: Why not attempt to win it?
Few appeared to even contemplate a group-stage flop. It was to date beneath the USMNT’s apparently inflated sense of self. And it might so clearly represent colossal disappointment.
However it occurred, and now all eyes will flip to what occurs subsequent. They’ll flip to U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker, and to Berhalter. A majority of followers and pundits now appear to agree that he ought to be fired. Will he be? If that’s the case, who will change him? And if not, how will he and the USMNT reply?
A mostly-under-23 crew will head to the Paris Olympics later this month. However for the complete USMNT, the subsequent 18 months might be comparatively barren. There might be monotonous, low-profile friendlies. There might be tiresome regional competitions.
This Copa América fracaso will dangle over all of them, as a result of this was the match that was speculated to elevate this system; this was its stepping stone towards the World Cup. As an alternative, the U.S. will enter 2026 with roughly zero proof that it could dangle with the elite of worldwide soccer and contend.
Here is how the match performed out in real-time:
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Full-time: United States 0-1 Uruguay
The USMNT has formally been eradicated from the Copa América. Uruguay wins Group C and Panama finishes second.