Copa América 2024 (now featuring more lolCONCACAF!)

On Saturday afternoon, three hours before they made a different, ignoble sort of history, the United States Men's National Team announced a historic starting XI: every single starter played for a Big 5 club team, marking the first time the USMNT has ever started such a lineup. That's a marker of the high level of talent in the program, as well as the level of ambition the team should be operating with. How would the U.S. look with their spiffy lineup? As overmatched as they've looked in most games against good teams under Gregg Berhalter.

The U.S. lost 5-1 in a pre–Copa America friendly against Colombia, who represented one of the best and most relevant tests ahead of the tournament. Los Cafeteros haven't lost in more than two years, and they've beaten Brazil and Spain within the past seven months. This was the sort of friendly that felt, somehow, as if it had real stakes. Colombia is the perfect measuring stick for the USMNT's supposedly tremendous progress over the past eight years.

[...] The U.S. looked outschemed and overmatched for the duration of the game, and Colombia needed just five minutes to seize a lead after Antonee Robinson inexplicably played a ball that was headed out right into the path of Jhon Arias. There were isolated moments of competence, and Tim Weah did score a goal. It didn't matter. Colombia was not only deadlier in front of goal, they seemed to be the only side who knew how they really wanted to play. They allowed the U.S. to have their meaningless little spells of possession, they let their cool, skilled players cook in space, and they applied pressure to the weaker parts of the U.S. build-up and ruthlessly pounced on the inevitable mistakes. [...] "It just felt like they were waiting for us to make a mistake and then kill us in transition," Pulisic said after the match. “That’s just what happened over and over again. We were nowhere near the level we need to play at if we want to win games coming into Copa America."

[...] The team has gone 5-7-6 against top-20 teams in Berhalter's six-year reign, with four of those wins against Mexico and one against Iran at the World Cup. Outside of the CONCACAF nursery, this is not a serious team, and they don't really seem to have made much progress since that 2016 Copa America, or arguably the 2009 Confederations Cup. The last time they surrendered five goals was the 2009 Gold Cup final to Mexico, and the time time before that came in 1990, when they lost to a nation that doesn't exist anymore (Czechoslovakia).

"That's it folks, I've had enough," Ronaldinho wrote. "This is a sad moment for those who love Brazilian soccer. It's getting hard to find the spirit to watch the games. This is perhaps one of the worst teams in recent years, it has no respectable leaders, only average players for the majority.

"I've been following football since I was a kid, long before I thought about becoming a player, and I've never seen a situation as bad as this. There's a lack of love for the shirt, a lack of grit and the most important of all: football.

"I'll repeat, our performance has been one of the worst things I've ever seen. Such a shame.

"I therefore declare my resignation. I will not watch any CONMEBOL Copa América game, nor celebrate any victory."

Barcelona and Brazil star Raphinha was quoted as saying Saturday, "It was a surprise not only for me but for everyone. I believe you must know me a lot more than I do. He never made a statement like that. He always showed support. He surprised a lot of people. I consider him an idol, a reference, and the others here on the team do, too. Everyone looks at him as a reference. It was a blow for us. We don't agree, I don't agree. I'm going into my third year in the team, and all I see here is dedication, desire and pride to wear this shirt. I don't agree with what was said about having average players wearing the shirt. I completely disagree."