Team USA’s 4-0 loss to Argentina showed the levels of football class still separating the two sides.
But the USA’s lackluster effort in the Copa America semifinal was perhaps the most disappointing to its fans.
The team had zero shots on goal, players looked lost at times, and they lacked any aggressiveness in their chance to upset the world’s top-ranked team.
Leo Messi and Co. dominated the game from the opening whistle, scoring their first goal in the third minute. From that point on, it was hardly a contest.
Jurgen Klinsmann had promised before the match that his team would come out to compete. But there was no evidence of that from his players.
“You saw tonight why they are the No. 1 team in the world. We just simply hit a far better team tonight.” Klinsmann said in the postgame news conference, according to ESPN.
USA will play in the third-place game Saturday against the loser of the Colombia vs. Chile in Phoenix.
The #USMNT will play in the #CopaAmerica Third Place match in Arizona on Saturday: https://t.co/7vA2KUg6If pic.twitter.com/hOz8KvylOb
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) June 22, 2016
