LANDOVER, Md. — Matt Turner kept falling to the field, the American goalkeeper punching the ground in frustration.
A defensive lapse by Antonee Robinson and aimless defensive play by Johnny Cardoso, Tim Weah and Cameron Carter-Vickers led to four goals in an embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Colombia in a Copa America warmup match on Saturday.
“I’m going to apologize to the fans,” Turner said. “That’s not what we’re about. And, yeah, we need to bounce back in a big way.”
Since a 5-1 loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1990 World Cup, the U.S. had given up that many goals only in a 5-0 loss to Mexico in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup final. It was the Americans’ first four-goal loss since a 4-0 defeat in a 2016 World Cup qualifier at Costa Rica that caused the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
“We’re not framing it as a lesson learned. We’re actually framing it as a wakeup call. Really poor performance against a top team,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “From the 75th minute on, it was I think a lack of respect for our opponent, the game of soccer and what we were doing.”
Jhon Arias put Colombia ahead in the sixth minute after the ball deflected to him when Robinson tried a sliding clearance without checking who was near. Rafael Santos Borré doubled the lead with a spectacular overhead kick in the 19th. The U.S. had not given up two goals in the first 20 minutes since a March 2016 World Cup qualifier.
“There’s some glaring things that you have to address if you’re going to compete at this level,” Berhalter said. “Guys just didn’t do their job. It’s about your role, your responsibilty and we didn’t do that.”
Weah cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 58th, but Cardoso’s turnover led to Richard Ríos’ goal in the 77th, Weah’s giveaway to Jorge Carrascal’s in the 85th and Carter-Vickers’ pass that didn’t appear aimed at anyone to Luis Sinisterra’s in the 88th.
“We had a lot of trouble through the middle,” Weah said.
Colombia extended its winning streak to seven and its unbeaten string to 22 since a 1-0 defeat at Argentina in a World Cup qualifier on Feb. 1, 2022.
“Everybody could look in the mirror after that game or needs to look in the mirror after that game and figure it out,” Turner said. “They just had a different intensity about them that we didn’t have.”
The U.S. has six losses and two draws against the Colombians since 2005 and is winless in five games against South American opponents since 2019.
“We take responsibility as a coaching staff, for sure. We can’t put this all on the players,” Berhalter said. “This game will help us understand that when we don’t do the things we’re supposed to do, we’ll get hurt really quickly.”
The U.S. faces Brazil in another friendly on Wednesday at Orlando, Florida, then plays its Copa America opener on June 23 followed by matches against Panama and Uruguay. The U.S. is among six invited guests to the tournament, South America’s championship.
Colombia meets Bolivia in an exhibition at Denver on June 15, then is in a first-round group with Paraguay, Costa Rica and Brazil. The U.S. and Colombia could meet in the quarterfinals.
Before a majority pro-Colombian crowd of 55,494 at Commanders Field, many clad in yellow jerseys, American players wore rainbow numbers on their jerseys for Pride Month.
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For the first time in American history, all 11 starters played for clubs in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Just six of 143 starting positions have been filled with Major League Soccer players for the 13 matches the full pool has been available since the 2022 World Cup, including three of 99 since Berhalter returned as coach.
Colombia went ahead in the sixth minute when James Rodriguez threaded a pass that went off the left leg of a sliding Robinson to Arias. He took a touch to get clear of Tim Ream and from 6 yards beat Turner over the goalkeeper’s left shoulder to the near post.
Colombia doubled the lead in the 19th after Rodriguez played a short corner kick to Arias, who crossed. Tom Ream headed the ball in a clearance attempt, and Mateus Uribe headed the ball back in front. With his back to the goal from 5 yards out, Santos Borré leaned back as he jumped and with his right foot made an overhead kick that sent the ball in on a hop to Turner’s left.
Weah, a son of Liberia president and former FIFA Player of the Year George Weah, scored his sixth international goal.
