Mark Monday down as a sad day for American soccer.
Regrets?
The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team has many after flaming out of 2024 Copa America on Monday night with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium.
Excuses?
The U.S. shouldn’t have any after failing to advance out of a Group C lot in which it felt like a formality that the Americans would be playing in a quarterfinal this weekend because they were the second-best team among Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia.
Regrets?
If the U.S. side scored as many goals as it has regrets in this important tournament that was supposed to be a proving ground for how far this generation of players has come with the World Cup just two years away on American soil, it might actually be closer to the world power in the sport it’s fervently (and futilely) strived to be for decades.
In the end for the U.S. in this Copa America, this was its scoreline: One win, two losses and just three goals scored.
The U.S., which managed a mere three shots on frame against Uruguay, failed to finish in all three of its matches in this tournament, and because of that, it’s finished.
Because of that, questions about the status of U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter’s job will grow louder and angrier, because this tournament, in many ways, represented a referendum on the job he’s doing.
Because, U.S. soccer certainly does not look like it’s advancing on the world stage.
This was a crushing failure on the part of the Americans to reach the elimination stage of the prestigious tournament in a group that featured two teams — Panama and Bolivia — they were superior to in terms of talent and experience.
The Americans entered their final Group C match against a strong Uruguay side needing — at the very least — a victory.
It was a sloppy, unmade bed the Americans left themselves, so in the end, they got exactly what they deserved.
In order to advance out of the group stage, the U.S. needed a positive result and some help from Bolivia, the weakest team in the group, against Panama in a match that was being played simultaneously.
For a few minutes, there was hope for the U.S.
Standing at 0-0 in the 62nd minute in Kansas City, Bolivia scored its first goal of the tournament to tie Panama 1-1 in the 69th minute of their match in Orlando, Fla.
Suddenly, there was life for the Americans, who needed to match or better the Panama result.
But alas, that hope was merely fleeting.
Four minutes later in the U.S. match, Uruguay scored to take a 1-0 lead in the 66th minute. Fittingly, it was a controversial goal. Mathias Olivera finished off a rebound of a Maximiliano Araujo header off a set piece.
It appeared on replay that Olivera was offside, but VAR confirmed the goal. Devastation ensued for the Americans, who desperately continued to press.
Then the news got worse for the U.S. out of Orlando, where Panama took a 2-1 lead over Bolivia in the 79th minute, meaning the U.S. needed two goals to beat Uruguay to advance.
In the 89th minute of the U.S. match, the Panama result went final, 3-1 Panama. That meant U.S. needed two goals in the final seven minutes to advance — one minute of regulation and six minutes of extra time.
None, of course, would come.
The U.S. performance against Uruguay wasn’t enough because the U.S. wasn’t good enough in the first two matches.
Because of squandered opportunities in those first two matches in the group stage.
The Americans comported themselves well against favored Uruguay, 15-time winners of Cope America, but it was too little, too late.
Too late because the U.S. failed to capitalize on its litany of scoring opportunities in a 2-0 win over a Bolivia team it should have defeated by more goals in its first match.
Too late because of its 2-1 loss to Panama in the second match with speedy starting attacker Timothy Weah sent off with a red card just 16 minutes in after losing his composure and trying to strike a Panama player.
The U.S. led 1-0 in that match despite playing with 10 men and still lost the match.
That left Monday night’s match not only a must-win and more, but possibly the final match Berhalter might have coached for the U.S.
There will be calls for Berhalter’s job and they may be loud.
There will be no quarterfinal match for the Americans this weekend. This will not be a festive July 4 for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Many regrets.
No excuses.
