The United States will play Colombia on November 14 at Craven Cottage in London. The friendly has been confirmed by U.S. Soccer and will see the teams play a friendly at the neutral site as part of the November FIFA international date, meaning both managers will be able to call up any players they would like,
USMNT to play friendly vs. Colombia at Craven Cottage
The U.S. will take on James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao and the rest of Colombia in a tough friendly.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The match will kick off at 2:45 p.m. ET and will be televised on UniMas. No English-language channel has been announced yet.
Colombia will provide the U.S. with a very stiff test. They are ranked third in the world and, while they may not be quite that good, they are an excellent squad that were only eliminated by Brazil in a tight quarterfinal match. Making them even more formidable is the return of Radamel Falcao, who missed the World Cup through injury. With him and any of their other dozen good strikers in front of James Rodriguez, they will challenge a U.S. defense that is still in some flux.
While Jurgen Klinsmann technically could call in whatever players he wants, he likely will be somewhat limited by the MLS Playoffs. Traditionally, the U.S. manager does not call in players whose teams are still alive and, with the match coming in between the conference semifinals and finals, Klinsmann is expected to leave home any player who has a conference final to prepare for.
The match will come four days before the U.S. plays Ireland in Dublin. That gives the Americans one really tough match and another competitive one, which is pretty ideal for a double FIFA date. That the travel from London to Dublin will be easy is a bonus too.
It will be fun to see the U.S. play at Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC. That is where Brian McBride because a club legend, so much so that the stadium pub is named McBride’s in his honor. It just seems right that the Americans get to play a match there.
See More:
