After the US's loss to Colombia in their opening group match last Friday, Clint Dempsey described Tuesday's Copa America Centenario game against Costa Rica as a "must-win".
The forward's head coach did not disagree on Monday. "They have one point, we have zero points, so we better get three," Jurgen Klinsmann told reporters.
Costa Rica is certainly a must-not-lose if the Americans are to avoid being all but kicked out of a three-week party after only five days. Which is never a good look, especially for the hosts.
The US entered the Colombia test on a four-game winning streak; indeed, they have won six of eight fixtures this year. But victories over the likes of Iceland, Canada and Puerto Rico did not suggest Klinsmann has found a formula that would work against the toughest teams - a blend of tactics and personnel that preserves the spirited teamwork of past generations and adds Europe-inflected wit and adventure.
Neither did last Friday’s defeat, even if the back line was largely solid and the US enjoyed plenty of possession. As was obvious in his post-match press conference, where he talked up the possibilityof six points from the next two games,Klinsmann’s eyes are constantly trained on a vision of a better tomorrow. It’s a world of perpetual sunlight that risks being more of a dazzling distraction than an illumination.
At his press conference on Monday he came close to sounding like the the coach of a youth programme where even the losers get a participation medal when he said he was pleased with the “good” performance.
If the Colombia loss was “totally even” apart from the score, as Klinsmann told reporters on Friday, that seemed mainly a function of a risk-averse opponent looking content to sit on their 2-0 half-time lead against a team that lacked a coherent attack.
Though a defeat to one of the world’s best teams in which both goals came from isolated individual errors is hardly cause for self-flagellation, there is no column in the standings called “mitigating circumstances”. Right now, the US are bottom of the four-team group and Klinsmann will ultimately be judged on his results with the same kind of uncompromising ruthlessness that he applies to his young players.
But Costa Rica and Paraguay could only draw 0-0 in their opening Group A game in Orlando on Saturday, so a win on Tuesday would put the Americans in a strong position to qualify for the quarter-finals. And neither country is as daunting as Colombia.
While there was a natural tendency to attach profound importance to the opening game of not only the group but the entire competition, Tuesday’s is the pivotal occasion. How Klinsmann’s charges fare against an eminently beatable side is a far stronger portent of whether they will achieve the bare minimum: progressing out of the group.
The picture should be much clearer after Colombia face Paraguay at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena later on Tuesday night; the US round off their group games against Paraguay in Philadelphia on June 11th.
Los Ticos are without suspended defender Kendall Waston and injured goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who withdrew before the tournament, though they did beat the US 1-0 in a friendly at Red Bull Arena in their most recent meeting thanks to a goal from Arsenal’s Joel Campbell.
That match last October attracted a crowd of only 9,214; the attendance will be much larger in Chicago on Tuesday, though Soldier Field will likely be far from full thanks to ticket prices that seem more suited to a final than a group stage encounter.
Whether Michael Bradley will have a second off night of the tournament or Geoff Cameron will suffer another costly lapse in concentration is hardly under Klinsmann's control; finding a way to make the most of another key player is within his purview, however.
Using Dempsey as the striker in a 4-3-3 against Colombia saw the team’s most creative force spending too much time retreating towards his own goal. Bobby Wood struggled for relevancy out wide and would surely benefit from playing more centrally, which would also help him work more effectively with Dempsey.
That boosts the case for a switch to a 4-4-2; though as last week, a subdued attack is often the byproduct of an ineffective midfield. Still, given his potential to unlock defences with adroit passes, Bradley merits another start in the deep-lying playmaker role.
Midway through the second period, Klinsmann threw on Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic in a bid to pep up the attack, but neither provided the sort of impactful performance that would make an irresistible case for a starting berth against Costa Rica.
If Klinsmann is right, though, wholesale alterations are not needed in Chicago - it is more a matter of seizing the kind of moments that were fumbled last week.
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