The U.S. national team turned in an outstanding first half, but had to endure a nerve-wracking final 45 minutes to defeat Ecuador and reach the Copa America’s final four.
SEATTLE — For 45 minutes on Thursday night, the U.S. national team looked like a team ready to cruise into the Copa America semifinals, making things appear almost easy in outplaying Ecuador through the first half.
We were quickly reminded, however, that this U.S. team doesn’t do things easily.
The U.S. followed up an excellent first half with a frenetic final 45 minutes, as a questionable red card to Jermaine Jones turned the match into a 10-on-10 track meet, which suited the speedy and desperate Ecuadorians. For the majority of the second half, the yellow-clad South Americans looked destined to spoil the party at CenturyLink Field, but the U.S. held it together just enough to give the strong pro-U.S. crowd a just reward for pushing them on with a 2-1 victory .
The U.S. is heading to the Copa America semifinals, a feat few saw the Americans accomplishing, but the same feat Jurgen Klinsmann set out as the target goal for his team before the tournament began.
Ecuador didn’t make it easy, which the U.S. was fully aware would be the case.
“(Ecuador) is damn good,” Jurgen Klinsmann said, admitting that he downplayed his pre-game talk about Ecuador in order not to put too much pressure on the U.S. “This team is leading World Cup qualifying in South America. It’s not by accident that they put us into big difficulties over the last 15-20 minutes because this is one of the top teams in the world.
“Our program is maturing, our players are maturing,” Klinsmann said. “They’re learning with every game that we can play in this type of an environment.”
Klinsmann insisted he would be able to count on his veterans to deliver and they did, with Clint Dempsey starring in front of his home-club fans. The Sounders star scored the first goal and set up the second to continue an MVP-caliber tournament run.
The defense was strong yet again, at least when the match was 11 against 11. John Brooks carried over his outstanding form from the Paraguay win, and held it together despite Ecuador appearing to target him for physical abuse. Geoff Cameron and Brooks cleaned up most of the threats in the first half, but found things much tougher in the second half after Jones was issued a red card for allegedly striking an Ecuador player in the face.
“Unfortunately we lost Jermaine for the incident, which is an absolute joke,” Klinsmann said. “I was right there and the fourth referee made the decision. Not the referee. The referee didn’t see it. He followed the advice off the fourth official out there and it’s a disgrace a decision like that.”
Antonio Valencia’s cynical foul on Alejandro Bedoya earned him marching orders on the same play, setting up a 10-on-10 battle that suited an Ecuador team already chasing the match. It left the Americans scrambling to deal with waves of Ecuadorian speed, but the U.S. defense took care of many of the threats, while poor Ecuador finishing did the rest.
“The game opened up a lot more, obviously, with the red cards,” Bedoya said. “There was a lot more space, and Ecuador made a couple of changes to switch things up. It’s all about grinding a result, and I think we showed a great attitude.”
Enner Valencia had his chance to tie the match late, but sent a wide-open header wide of the goal, which was the best sign of the second half that this might be a good night for the U.S.
“Again, we probably needed a little bit of luck,” Guzan said of Valencia’s late miss. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, so we’ll take it.”
The pro-American crowd this city promised came and delivered, and while the 47,322 attendance fell well short of a sellout, the atmosphere was still excellent, as the fans urged their team on and offered loud protestations at the many questionable officiating decisions in the second half.
“On nights like this, the fans can make the difference for us,” U.S. captain Michael Bradley said. “In the second half, when the game gets turned on its head a little bit, and we have to suffer and be willing to do whatever it takes to make sure when that whistle blows we walk off winners, the crowd and the atmosphere really pushes us in a big way.”
Klinsmann took a bit of a gamble with his lineup, choosing to start Matt Besler at left back and moving Fabian Johnson to right back. The move paid off, with Besler holding his own defensively and limiting Antonio Valencia’s attacking contributions, and even contributing to the attack by delivering the service that eventually produced Zardes’ security goal that made the score 2-0.
“I thought Matt did a great job,” U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan said of Besler. “More importantly than that, the guys around Matt I thought did a very good job. Again, John (Brooks) was good. In front of him, (Alejandro Bedoya) was good. Really limited Valencia in the first half. He wasn’t much of a factor, and that was a credit to Matty’s work rate.”
Despite the U.S. team’s success in limiting the effectiveness of Ecuador’s dangerous wingers, La Tri still made the game an interesting one in the second half when Michael Arroyo blasted a goal from the top of the penalty area. That goal set up a frantic and nail-biting final 15 minutes that included a handful of late Ecuador chances, including Valencia’s close-range miss.
The second half wasn’t nearly the attractive soccer we saw in the first half, but the Stars and Stripes saved their bravest efforts for the closing minutes, when the Copa America semifinals threatened to slip away.
“Obviously when there’s a few red cards, when Ecuador gets back to 2-1, we know it’s going to be a frantic finish,” Bradley said. “Style points go out the window and it’s about the willingness from every guy to do whatever it takes, the determination and ability to suffer together and just make sure that when the game ends we’re the ones moving on.
The U.S. is now moving on to a semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between Argentina and Venezuela, which will give the Americans yet another chance to build on the growing momentum and fan support that has been building during what is now a three-match winning streak in Copa America.
“We certainly hope that now getting into a semifinal, against Argentina, Venezuela, means that people are going to really pay attention and really watch us in what is, aside from a World Cup, the biggest possible stage,” Bradley said.
Thursday’s victory came at a cost, though.
Jones, Alejandro Bedoya and Bobby Wood will miss the semifinal due to suspensions, which will force Klinsmann to test his bench in a way he hasn’t had to yet this tournament. A semifinal meeting against the winner of the Argentina-Venezuela quarterfinal looms in Houston, and while the U.S. will be a heavy underdog if Argentina is the opponent, nobody was worrying about that too much on Thursday night.
The only thing American fans and players were concerned about was enjoying the victory, and the well-deserved party that is soon to follow. The team’s work is far from done at this Copa America, but the U.S. has already done enough, and shown enough, to be considered a team heading in the right direction.
“Everybody who stepped on the field came through in a big way,” Bradley said. “To win a big game, to win a quarterfinal like this, you need every guy to step on the field and really come through and we got that.”
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