USA vs. Costa Rica, Copa America 2016: Live coverage and score updates

The USMNT had zero fun in its Copa América Centenario opener. After falling behind by one goal early and then conceding a penalty before halftime, the team stumbled to one of their more lackluster results of recent memory. National team veterans Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey and Jermaine Jones were among those most heavily criticized after the final whistle.

Bradley committed frequent turnovers, one of which led directly to penalty when DeAndre Yedlin was whistled for a handball seconds later. Dempsey, playing in a center forward role he’s not well-suited to, did little to bolster the attack. Jones struggled to add anything going forward, so coach Jurgen Klinsmann subbed him off after 66 minutes, much to Jones’ dismay.

The United States men’s national team is back in control of their own destiny in Copa America. They’re back on track to capture a quarterfinal berth after defeating Costa Rica, 4-0, in Chicago.

Costa Rica dominated the opening five minutes, but the USMNT took the lead on their first dangerous foray into the Ticos’ box. In the seventh minute, Cristian Gamboa gave Bobby Wood a shove in the back, which the referee spotted. He pointed to the spot and Clint Dempsey stepped up to bury the penalty, putting the United States ahead 1-0.

That’s a one-man effort where he didn’t have to take the ball off anyone and didn’t have to beat any defenders. It was a big, long, 10-second gift from the Ticos.

At the same time, this highlights why Jurgen Klinsmann is so frustrating. For all of the opener and most of this game, Wood looked lost on the wing. When he moved into the center and Dempsey moved wide, magic happened. It would be nice to see Wood get more chances to do this.

This made it 3-0 to the Americans.

If you were concerned about the United States men’s national team showing up on Tuesday, fear not. They’ve turned in an energetic second half, kicked off with a penalty goal by Clint Dempsey, and Deuce added an assist 20 minutes later too. Here’s the goal by Jermaine Jones that made it 2-0.

That’s a great win in midfield by Jones, a better run by Dempsey and a fantastic finish by Jones.

He was calm and collected from the spot, putting his team up 1-0 in a near-must-win game.

To the surprise of no one, Jurgen Klinsmann has not changed his lineup to face Costa Rica. He said repeatedly that he was satisfied with his side’s performance in the opening game of Copa America against Colombia, so the United States men’s national team will look exactly the same to face Los Ticos.

That means there’s a handful of players that Klinsmann needs to see better performances from. Clint Dempsey is one of the greatest USMNT players of all time, but he doesn’t look comfortable in the middle of this 4-3-3. He’ll need to get on the ball more and get his teammates involved. The Americans will also need for Michael Bradley to commit fewer turnovers in his role.

The opening round of Group A play in Copa America wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but you might see something a bit different on Tuesday night. The United States and Costa Rica will both feel like they need a win to have a great chance to advance to the quarterfinals.

In the case of Los Ticos, they can draw and control their own destiny -- they’d just have to beat Colombia. The USMNT, meanwhile, would need a win and help on the last day if they draw this match, and they will be eliminated from Copa America with a loss.

The United States men’s national team is in a situation they’ve only been in a few times under Jurgen Klinsmann -- with their backs against the wall, badly needing a win. On Tuesday, they need to redeem themselves against Costa Rica after a poor opener against Colombia.

While the Americans made some progress in playing decent soccer with a top opponent, keeping the ball well in their opponent’s half, they couldn’t actually turn that into positive results against Colombia. The USMNT did little to threaten the Colombian goal in a 2-0 loss.