The U.S. became the first side to book a place in the semi final following an excellent first half display which saw them eliminating Ecuador and stand a chance of facing the most in-form team of the tournament, Argentina, should the latter win their quarter final tie against Venezuela.
For the majority of the second half, the yellow-clad South Americans looked destined to spoil the party at CenturyLink Field, but the U.S. held it together just enough to give the strong pro-U.S. crowd a just reward for pushing them on with a 2-1 victory. Heading for the Copa America semifinals, a feat few saw the Americans accomplishing, but the benchmark Jurgen Klinsmann set for his team before the tournament began.
Klinsmann insisted he would be able to count on his veterans to deliver and they did, with Clint Dempsey starring in front of his home-club fans. The Sounders star scored the first goal and set up the second to continue an MVP-caliber tournament run.
The defense was strong yet again, at least when the match was 11 against 11. John Brooks carried over his outstanding form from the Paraguay win, and held it together despite Ecuador appearing to target him for physical abuse. Geoff Cameron and Brooks cleaned up most of the threats in the first half, but found things much tougher in the second half after Jones was issued a red card for allegedly striking an Ecuador player in the face. Antonio Valencia's cynical foul on Alejandro Bedoya earned him marching orders on the same play, setting up a 10-on-10 battle that suited an Ecuador team already chasing the match. It left the Americans scrambling to deal with waves of Ecuadorian speed, but the U.S. defense took care of many of the threats, while poor Ecuador finishing did the rest.
Enner Valencia had his chance to tie the match late, but sent a wide-open header wide of the goal, which was the best sign of the second half that this might be a good night for the U.S.
The pro-American crowd this city promised came and delivered, and while the 47,322 attendance fell well short of a sellout, the atmosphere was still excellent, as the fans urged their team on and offered loud protestations at the many questional officiating decisions in the second half.
Klinsmann took a bit of a gamble with his lineup, choosing to start Matt Besler at left back and moving Fabian Johnson to right back. The move paid off, with Besler holding his own defensively, and even contributing to the attack by delivering the service that eventually produced Zardes' security goal that made the score 2-0. Of course, Ecuador responded with an 18-yard strike from Michael Arroyo, but that goal merely helped produce a nail-biting final 15 minutes that never produced an Ecuador equalizer.
Thursday's victory came at a cost, though. Jones, Alejandro Bedoya and Bobby Wood will miss the semifinal due to suspensions, which will force Klinsmann to test his bench in a way he hasn't had to yet this tournament. A semifinal meeting against the winner of the Argentina-Venezuela quarterfinal looms in Houston, and while the U.S. will be a heavy underdog if Argentina is the opponent, nobody was worrying about that too much on Thursday night. The only thing American fans and players were concerned about was enjoying the victory, and the well-deserved party that is soon to follow. A successful run to the Copa America semifinals has earned this U.S. team a chance to celebrate.
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