USA vs. Colombia preview: Copa America Centenario opening game

It’s finally here! After months of waiting, the Copa America Centenario is ready to commence. It’s the biggest international soccer tournament to be played in the United States since the 1994 FIFA World Cup. And it all gets underway when the US takes on Colombia tonight. Here’s our USA vs. Colombia preview:

The US had a terrible 2015, failing to even make it to the Gold Cup Final, losing in the Confederations Cup Playoff against Mexico and generally looking lost, tired and disinterested. Then the US lost an away World Cup Qualifier to Guatemala in March and it looked like the US might not qualify for the World Cup. The US hasn’t looked back since. In fact, the US is unbeaten in eight of the last nine and has won four in a row, keeping clean sheets in three of those four. There is now cautious optimism among US fans that replaces the doom and gloom attitude many had taken, especially when looking at Group A in the Copa America in which the US will go up against Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay.

One of the biggest reasons for that cautious optimism is the play of two of the newest players on the US roster: Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic. Both have been fantastic in the two warmup games (they were not available for the Puerto Rico friendly). Nagbe got the winner against Ecuador and Pulisic became the youngest player ever to score for the US when he scored against Bolivia. Not only are Nagbe and Pulisic lighting it up, but Bobby Wood has played well in the last two games despite not scoring and DeAndre Yedlin keeps getting better as a defender. Jurgen Klinsmann appears to finally have settled on a backline of Yedlin, Geoff Cameron, John Brooks and Fabian Johnson. Chemistry on the backline will be extremely important when the US faces one of the world’s most dangerous attacking teams in Colombia.

SEE MORE: Cord cutter’s guide to watch Copa America Centenario

Colombia’s 23 man roster is absolutely loaded. The headliner is of course Real Madrid man James Rodriguez, who was the breakout star of the 2014 World Cup (he scored six goals in five games). In addition to Rodriguez, they also have Juventus (and former Chelsea) man Juan Cuadrado and AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca who is the second-leading scorer on the roster with 11 goals, behind only Rodriguez who has 14. They also have a very capable goalkeeper with Arsenal man David Ospina between the sticks. Colombia also had a poor 2015. They were knocked out of the Copa America in the Quarterfinals by Argentina before only winning once in their last five games. But they’ve pulled themselves together in 2016, winning all three games, including a friendly against Haiti in Miami, scoring three goals in every game. They currently sit fifth in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying.

Notes:

• The current US win streak of four is the longest since early last year when they won six in a row.

• Timmy Chandler has been dropped from the US roster with an injury. Edgar Castillo has been named as his replacement.

• Saturday’s game against Bolivia was the fifth straight home friendly with a crowd under 10,000.

When, Where

Friday, June 3, 2016
Levi’s Stadium
Santa Clara, California
9:30pm ET
FOX Sports 1, Univision, UniMas, Univision Deportes Network, FOX Sports Go, FOX Soccer 2GO and fuboTV (free trial)

All-Time Series

USA trails 3-10-4