Awakened by Colombia: USMNT Receives a Wake-Up Call That Should've Been Anticipated
LANDOVER, Md. — The U.S. men’s national team began its most significant summer in a decade amidst high expectations and the buzz of 55,494 fans near Washington D.C. By the 23rd minute of a much-anticipated friendly, intended as yet another test for the still-unproven USMNT, some fans were already chanting: “USA, Colombia es tu papá!”
Decked in Colombian yellow, the supporters of a top-10 global team, the kind that has become a benchmark for the USMNT, repeated the chant throughout a 5-1 thrashing of the Americans.
They echoed the chant repeatedly, as Colombia’s relentless attacks became overwhelming, causing the U.S. players to falter.
In the 90 minutes at Commanders Field, what was meant to be a test turned into an embarrassment, marking the worst defeat of the Gregg Berhalter era and the worst possible start to what was supposed to be a pivotal summer.
The result, while seemingly inconsequential, highlighted a troubling trend: in five years under Berhalter, across two tenures, the U.S. still hasn’t defeated a top-25 team in an A-team match outside CONCACAF.
Like Germany last year and the Netherlands before that, this was another chance for the Yanks to demonstrate to the world—and to themselves—that they could conquer soccer’s elite; that they could, as Weston McKennie said Friday, “beat some big teams, and be looked at as a big team as well.”
Ultimately, it was another missed opportunity.
The match turned sour in less than six minutes, when an error by Antonee Robinson allowed Jhon Arias to open the scoring.