The debate surrounding the U.S. men’s national team heading into Sunday’s Copa America group-stage opener is about the balance between performance and results.
Everyone agreed: in a tournament, results are what matter.
Hopefully the performance will be consistent with that and there will be positives in both areas against Bolivia. The U.S. dominated possession and created many chances. They limited Bolivia to little real goal threat. They got the most important result: a 2-0 win.
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The United States will now head into the midfield match of the group stage against Panama, knowing that a win will guarantee them a spot in the knockout rounds. However, they must hope that the nuance of the first result, rather than a three- or four-goal victory, does not end up being the difference at the end of the group stage, a game where goal difference comes first. The tiebreaker.
After the game near Dallas, the team insisted they were less worried about the score and more about the bottom line.
“Goal difference is important, but the most important thing is winning,” winger Tim Weah said. “Once you win you don’t have to worry about goal difference.”
The night started out just as perfectly as America could have hoped. Less than three minutes into the game, Christian Pulisic fired a shot into the far corner from the top of the penalty area to give his team the lead. Folarin Balogun doubled the score just before half-time.
Pulisic and Robinson celebrate the opening match (Aric Becker/AFP via Getty Images)
Time and time again in the second half, the United States found space and attacked Bolivia in an attempt to regain the win. But they repeatedly failed to capitalize on opportunities to create.
Pulisic forced a save from Guillermo Vizcarra in the 60th minute. 里卡多·佩皮儘管在第65 分鐘才上場，但還是完成了6 次射門——這是自2010 年Opta 開始收集所有美國比賽詳細數據以來美國國家隊替補球員在一場比賽中射門次數最多的log.
“This is about winning championship games,” head coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We’ll look at the end result. If you get some precise numbers, we probably had more than three expected goals (2.51) in the game. They had 0.18. That’s pretty good across the board.
“I think there will be an angle, maybe from you (the media), that will say, ‘Well, they should have scored more goals, they should have created more chances.'” But it’s a 90-minute game, in 90 minutes In the game, we created enough opportunities, and we also deprived them of enough opportunities. We are very happy with the results. We move on.
Berhalter admits Pepi was particularly disappointed. A former FC Dallas youth player, he performed in front of his hometown crowd, who cheered his arrival an hour later.
baby have Is an effective super sub. He scored all seven of PSV Eindhoven’s goals as a substitute in the Dutch top flight last season (2023-24), and he has made nine previous appearances for his country as they move into the Nations League in March. Five goals were scored in the game, and five players came on as substitutes.
His condition didn’t get any better on Sunday. In the 67th minute, Pepi got his first chance with the ball in the penalty area, but failed to block Anthony Robinson’s pass. Then his shot in the 79th minute forced a save from Vizcarra.
| Group C | Congressman | watt | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Uruguay |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
|
USA |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
|
Panama |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
-2 |
0 |
|
Bolivia |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
-2 |
0 |
In the 90th minute, Robinson made another pass from the top six yards of the penalty area. Pepi seemed certain to score the U.S. team’s third goal, but his close-range shot was blocked by Vizcarra. When the rebound bounced off Pepi and into the net, Vizcarra denied him again.
After the game, Weah said he told Pepi to “stay focused and keep your head up.”
“Sometimes you get a hat-trick, sometimes you don’t; I think that’s what comes with being a striker. “As we’ve seen, even with Lukaku (Romelu, Belgium’s record scorer with 85 goals) ) and the European Cup, he also had a difficult time.
Berhalter was pleased with the 2-0 victory – despite the missed chances (Aric Becker/AFP via Getty Images)
“The best players know how to stay together and we have another game so he (Pepi) will have many other opportunities to put the ball into the goal. Obviously we are confident in his ability in front of the goal.
Berhalter also backed Pepi.
“I think he had a big impact on the game,” Berhalter said. “With so many chances to score in such a short period of time, he kept running, pressing and defending and he had a great game.
“I know he was a little disappointed after the game, but when you get so many chances in such a short period of time against an aggressive team, you do the right thing. We believe the end will come.
Hours after Sunday’s win, Uruguay beat Panama 3-1, level on points and goal difference but ahead on goals scored. The United States will face CONCACAF rival Panama in Atlanta on Thursday.
“This group has a lot of football to play,” Berhalter said. “And it’s not done yet. We have two games left. We always look at creating chances as a sign of performance and today we created enough. Most of the time, those chances come, but they didn’t come today, but this It doesn’t matter. We are very happy with the result.
“It’s a great starting point for the whole tournament.”
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(Above: Robinson chatting with Pepi at the end of the game. Aric Becker/AFP via Getty Images)
