The United States Men’s National Team kicks off their 2024 Copa America campaign on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas, when they take on CONMEBOL punching bag Bolivia, in a game where anything less than victory will be seen as a major misstep.
While a full 73 spots separate the Stars and Stripes from La Verde in the obviously flawless, unquestionable and and oracle-like FIFA rankings, the question of which USA team shows up to play could be the difference between cakewalk and a potentially crisis-triggering result.
Gregg Berhalter’s men followed a 5-1 beat-down at the hands of potential quarterfinal opponent Colombia with an admittedly impressive 1-1 draw against their other likely first knock-out foe Brazil in their their two warm-up games prior to the tournament. Even though the argument could be made that the performance against the Seleção is closer to what should be expected for the tournament, there will still be trepidation in the hearts of most fans that the stink of that first outing could waft over Jerry World on Sunday.
While the absence of Sergiño Dest was clearly felt against Colombia, stand-in Joe Scally did show marked improvement in the next game, and a strong performance opposite the typically steady Antonee Robinson will be a key factor.
At least on paper, the mismatch between the pedigree of nearly any possible starting XI for the opposing teams is significant enough to make Berhalter’s men heavy betting favourites. The vast majority of Bolivia’s squad – 20 out of 26 players – are based in the country’s domestic league, although to their credit, the fact that 18 of those are spread across the division’s three strongest teams will give them an edge in chemistry.
Still, the “Italian connection” in the main attacking and midfield roles for the US should by all means give the visitors headaches from the get-go. It’s a relatively safe bet that AC Milan star Christian Pulisic and Juve’s Tim Weah will occupy the two outside roles in the expected front three, with either Ricardo Pepi or Haji Wright likely to get the nod in the middle over Josh Sargent, who is still questionable due to his ongoing recovery from injury.
Weah and Pulisic scored the Americans’ goals against Colombia and Brazil, respectively, will continue to be the main sources of action against the Bolivians.
Mirroring the situation in the front, the other Juve-Milan pair of Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah should start in the midfield, as is nearly always the case when both are healthy, with Gio Reyna occupying the third spot, likely on the left side.
All three players are in a moment of flux with their club careers, which hopefully will not distract them from the task at hand over the coming days and weeks. Each will be tasked with impressing a new head coach when the club season resumes, although both McKennie and Reyna are strong candidates to find new homes during the summer transfer window.
After the recent strong performance against Brazil, it would also be difficult to see Berhalter making too many changes to his back four. The aforementioned Robinson and Scally are likely to take the outside back roles, although there is less certainty in regards to the center backs.
Chris Richards has been solid enough and plays regularly at a high enough level to probably regain his spot, however whether the experienced, albeit slow-footed, Tim Ream also starts for a third straight time, or is replaced by one of the more mobile options of Cameron Carter-Vickers or Mark McKenzie is a question.
Bolivia’s run of results over the last few months have been far from encouraging for head coach Antônio Carlos Zago. Since taking over the reigns in late-October of last year, the team has won twice in just seven attempts, with one of those being a narrow 1-0 victory over the mighty Andorra, which should by all means be considered a tick in the “L” column despite technically winning the game.
More recently, they lost their three warmup games against Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia by a combined 7-1 score, and are long shots to advance from the ongoing South American World Cup qualifying group, despite the fact that only three of the continents ten teams face elimination at the end of the 18-game marathon.
Whoever wins Sunday’s game will take a lead in the all-time series, with each team having taken two wins, with four draws rounding out the eight previous meetings. The Americans have had the recent edge, getting the first of their two wins in 2016 and more recently taking a 3-0 win in Philadelphia two years later.
Should the US come out ahead, they will have a strong edge on claiming one of the top two spots in Group C, with Thursday’s second game against Panama the potential banana skin before the tough group finale with Uruguay.
The game kicks off at 5pm local time in Arlington, Texas.
