The United States and Colombia are playing live on the World Cup International Friendly schedule on Friday and the game from Craven Cottage is on ESPN and the WatchESPN website streaming at 2:45 pm ET and the game is a big matchup for Team USA and Jurgen Klinsmann, as they are looking to have a strong game after their WC performance and the USMNT will now be in London for the matchup before playing another friendly next week against Ireland.
The United States had a fantastic run in the World Cup and now they come out of that looking to stay strong into the next tournament. Klinsmann wants to use this time to see what he has in some of his younger players and this is a great time for him to see where the roster is now after Brazil. Craven Cottage is a great location for a match and the team is playing against top flight competition.
Colombia was one of the surprise teams in the World Cup and they performed very well and now the team has two big matches in five days. The matchup with Colombia is a good test for the Americans and they come in having lost nine matchups, winning three and drawing four overall in the history of the matchup. Of course as many US fans remember, the team pulled off a massive upset at the Rose Bowl in 1994 and that was one of the biggest wins for the team in history.
The United States made it into the knockout rounds against Belgium this time and they nearly pulled off an amazing comeback, but it fell short at the end on a Chris Wondolowski miss that was oh so close and it looked like the US had made the crazy comeback. The last time the two teams played was a 0-0 draw and that was in the US in Pennsylvania four years ago and now they matchup against the team in Europe. James Rodriguez is the main star for Colombia and the player that the US needs to watch out for. He is now with Real Madrid after his great World Cup run and he is excited to play more freely here than he can alongside Ronaldo.
This new cycle will be huge for the US, as they will get the chance to see the new wave of players and Klinsmann hopes they step up. DeAndre Yedlin is a star and he comes in after a strong World Cup, while names like DeMarcus Beasley, Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and Matt Besler along with Jermaine Jones will get plenty of work. Jones could be the key for the next set of tournaments and runs for the Americans, as he may get some center back work.
Check here for the United States and Colombia live coverage.