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Hello! The Copa America was meant to be a big step forward for the U.S. But is it over already?
On the way:
🇺🇸 Weah red card costs USMNT
🇺🇾 Ominous signs from Uruguay
🔭 Why teams go long from kick-offs
🎶 The story of football’s top anthem
Copa Corner: Weah’s ‘Beckham moment’
The spectrum of red-card offences ranges from the excusable to the idiotic and Tim Weah’s in the USMNT’s 2-1 defeat to Panama last night was right at the ‘David Beckham’ end of the scale.
You’ll probably have seen Beckham’s dismissal at World Cup 98 — the flick of a boot at Argentina’s Diego Simeone — many times over, especially if you’re English. Weah suffered the same loss of control, lashing out 18 minutes into the United States’ second Copa America match (above). And as with Beckham, it might be the defining factor in his nation’s elimination.
The USMNT’s Copa America campaign is hanging by a thread. Defeat to Panama was the price of Weah aiming a cheap shot at Roderick Miller off the ball, a jab to the back of Miller’s head. Folarin Balogun opened the scoring with a cracking goal (below), but weight of numbers turned the game around for Panama. A late red card for Adalberto Carrasquilla made no difference.
The result leaves the U.S. and Panama tied on three points. Lose to Uruguay in their final group match and Gregg Berhalter’s squad, to coin a phrase, will probably be home before their postcards.
Weah can only sit and hope after apologising to his team-mates. He gets an automatic one-match ban, but don’t be surprised if CONMEBOL seeks to impose a longer suspension.
What now?
Group C was always heading for a showdown between the U.S. and Uruguay, Berhalter versus Marcelo Bielsa. In theory, it was supposed to decide who topped the section.
Not anymore. And make no mistake, Uruguay are flying. They’ve rolled with Bielsa’s madness and injected his spirit, routing Bolivia 5-0 last night. Christian Pulisic is bang on: the USMNT have to find the ‘game of their lives’ to stay in the tournament next week. They could seriously do without an injury to goalkeeper Matt Turner.
We’ve figured out the Group C permutations, but on the basis that Bolivia won’t offer huge resistance to Panama, they have to squeeze something out of Uruguay. They must match or better Panama’s result — and if they don’t, get ready for some bloodletting. On the back of all the hype going into the Copa, combusting in the group stages would leave nowhere to hide.
Huge racism problem
There’s a deeply depressing trend in football of on-pitch failure leading to online racist abuse of the players involved.
It happens at club level, it happens internationally (Canada’s Moise Bombito was subjected to racism on Instagram last week), and some USMNT players were victims of it after the loss to Panama.
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) said it was “deeply disturbed” by what it called “hateful and discriminatory behaviour”. What the solution to this dreadful routine is, I don’t know, but someone has to find one.
How to fix Brazil
Brazil’s coach, Dorival Junior, is seeking some ‘dirty movement’ to get them out of a slow start. He wants deep runs beyond the last line of defence — avoiding the passive setup shown above, with Brazilians spread across the midfield.
But don’t worry DJ, our writers have a plan for their match against Paraguay in Group D this evening.
Glove love
(Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
Yes, you may well be counting your digits, but your eyes are not deceiving you. Here’s Mexico goalkeeper Julio Gonzalez wearing a Mickey Mouse-style glove with only four fingers.
The reason? He’s had a broken finger on his left hand for a while and the choice was either undergo surgery and miss the Copa, or find a way to play with his hand strapped up. Voila.
Catch a match
Today
(Times ET/UK): Group D — Colombia vs Costa Rica (6pm/11pm) — Fox Sports 1, Fubo, Premier Sports 1; Paraguay vs Brazil (9pm/2am) — Fox Sports 1, Fubo, Premier Sports 1
Saturday
Group A — Argentina vs Peru (8pm/1am) — Fox Sports 1, Fubo, Premier Sports 1; Canada vs Chile (8pm/1am) — Fox Sports 2, Fubo, Premier Sports 2
Sunday
Group B: Mexico vs Ecuador (8pm/1am) — Fox Sports, Fubo, Premier Sports 1; Jamaica vs Venezuela (8pm/1am) — Fox Sports 1, Fubo, Premier Sports 2
News Round-Up
Euros Zone: A retro kick-off trend
Earlier in Euro 2024, TAFC wrote about Albania breaking the record for the fastest European Championship goal in history — scored in 23 seconds.
What wasn’t spoken about so much was how it came about, via a long ball from the kick-off, which forced Italy to take a throw-in deep in their own half — a throw-in Italy then made a mess of.
Hoof ball, the route-one approach or whatever you want to call it is back in business at the start of games. Jordan Campbell has written about the tendency of more and more teams to go direct when they kick off, in spite of the likelihood that they will simply concede possession.
The rationale appears to be: why bring pressure on yourself immediately by playing backwards and inviting the opposition forward? It’s not pretty, but it makes sense when you think about it.
What to watch for…
The round of 16 gets going in Germany tomorrow. My word, England need to wake up. A ‘snoozefest’ is Marco van Basten’s verdict on Gareth Southgate’s style. Phil Foden is back in the mix after becoming a father again.
But let’s talk about Spain instead. They walked their group and Mark Carey’s analysis of the Euros so far confirmed something we’ve been highlighting: Nico Williams is having a big tournament and having fun on the left flank. It’s harder and harder to imagine that someone won’t be signing Williams from Athletic Bilbao. He’s in the sweet spot — just like Lamine Yamal who, in teenage prodigy fashion, has just nailed his school exams.
Saturday
(Times ET/UK): Last 16 — Switzerland vs Italy (12pm/5pm) — Fox Sports 1 Fubo, BBC One; Germany vs Denmark (3pm/8pm) — Fox, Fubo, ITV 1
Sunday
Last 16: England vs Slovakia (12pm/5pm) — Fox, Fubo, ITV 1; Spain vs Georgia (3pm/8pm) — Fox, Fubo, ITV 1
Around The Athletic FC
Quiz Question
Stand by your beds for our Friday quiz question:
Which six players have scored four or more goals in the knockout stages of the European Championship?
Stuck? The answer will be revealed here later today and in Monday’s TAFC.
(Top photo: Eduardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images)
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