BARINAS, Venezuela – It looks as if the U.S. soccer team’s trip to Venezuela is going to be a short one.
Four days after being routed by Argentina in their Copa America opener, the youthful Americans were humbled further Monday in a 3-1 loss to Paraguay that put them on the brink of elimination.
“We gave them too many easy chances. When you give good teams and good players easy chances, they’re going to beat you,” said Kasey Keller, the veteran U.S. goalkeeper. “But this is why we’re here, to give these young guys experience. Unfortunately, sometimes you need to make mistakes to learn.”
Ricardo Clark’s goal in the 40th minute had tied the score 10 minutes after Edgar Barreto put Paraguay ahead.
But then Jimmy Conrad all but conceded Oscar Cardozo’s goal in the 56th minute, which gave Paraguay a 2-1 lead. Salvador Cabanas scored his third goal of the tournament in stoppage time after the Americans blew chance after chance offensively.
Clark’s first international goal in nine appearances was little consolation for the Americans, who lost their second in a row after going 10-0-1 to start the year. It also was their first loss to Paraguay in five games and all but eliminated the United States from South America’s championship.
“The result is difficult for us. We feel the effort of the team was strong,” U.S. Coach Bob Bradley said. “Nonetheless, we didn’t do very well with some of the chances we created and certainly made a mistake that Paraguay was able to take advantage of.”
The United States (0-2) will have to rout Colombia (0-2), a 4-2 loser to Argentina on Monday, in the final group-stage game Thursday – and get lots of help from other teams. Paraguay (2-0) joined Mexico in the quarterfinals. (The United States and the Mexicans are invited guests.)
“We will know before we play our third game if we still have a chance to qualify,” Bradley said. “And with some luck, hopefully our game with Colombia will still give us the opportunity to get three points and move on to the next round.”
After beating Mexico for the Gold Cup title with players such as Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Carlos Bocanegra, Bradley brought a largely young and untested squad to Copa America. The inexperience showed.
After falling apart against Argentina in the second half, the Americans were sloppy from the start against Paraguay.
The Americans missed two scoring opportunities in the first 11 minutes, then gave up a sloppy goal to Barreto in the 30th. Barreto outran Conrad and Sacha Kljestan for a through ball, and connected with a beautiful sliding kick to beat a charging Keller.
Clark rallied the Americans 10 minutes later. Taylor Twellman knocked down a deep ball and one-touched it into Clark’s path. From 18 yards, Clark buried a hard, right-footed shot just inside the near post.
In the 56th minute, Jonathan Bornstein was trying to clear the ball back to Keller when Conrad, a World Cup starter last year, let the slow-rolling ball go by. Cardozo sprinted in to intercept it and, with Keller frozen, slotted home a left-footed shot.
The Americans tried to play more aggressively, but they weren’t any closer to the mark than they had been earlier in the game. Twellman missed on a weak volley from close range, Justin Mapp bounced a ball over the crossbar with Eddie Johnson wide open at the far post, and Drew Moor, unmarked with most of the goal to shoot for, put a shot from 8 yards right into the goalkeeper’s arms.
