The 2016 Copa America Centenario didn’t get off to a promising start for the United States as it was beaten by Colombia 2-0. Thus that makes Tuesday’s match against Costa Rica essentially a must-win for the USA if it has any hopes of advancing. The Americans are -130 favorites on betting lines with the Costa Ricans at +400 and a draw at +250. The total is 2.5 goals, with the under a -175 favorite. The match is at 8 p.m. ET from Soldier Field in Chicago and will be televised by Fox Sports 1. Find the latest soccer odds here.
Copa America Centenario Betting Lines: USA vs. Costa Rica
The American were pretty well humbled by the Colombians in their tournament opener on Friday. Embattled USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann had this odd quote after the game: “There was no difference [between the two sides] besides the two goals.”
Uh, OK. In truth, Colombia was in control as soon as Cristian Zapata slammed Edwin Cardona’s corner kick past U.S. keeper Brad Guzan with the game not even eight minutes old. James Rodriguez added a 42nd-minute penalty kick for Colombia. The 31st-ranked Americans began the biggest tournament at home since the 1994 World Cup in disappointing fashion.
USA star Clint Dempsey also said he didn’t feel the US played poorly against Colombia. He thought the handball call that led to Colombia’s second goal was unwarranted. As for Colombia’s corner-kick goal and the USA’s lack of scoring, those areas that could be improved on.
“You know conceding the set piece, that’s frustrating,” Dempsey said. “I thought the penalty call was a little harsh. But, yeah, we can create more chances in the attacking third. But I still thought at times we played well. On the corner kick, you can look at that how you can get tighter, how you can get around picks, make sure you don’t get blocked off, how we can maybe do a little better job on our set pieces.
The USA is in fourth place in the group after Costa Rica and Paraguay each received a point following their draw on Saturday. Costa Rica and Paraguay combined for five yellow cards and one red, the latter shown to Costa Rica’s Kendall Waston in the 94th minute. It all added up to just a 0-0 draw at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. Thus Waston will miss this match.
History says the USA isn’t going to advance. Twenty times the Americans won or tied the opener of a World Cup, Confederations Cup, Copa America or Gold Cup and 20 times, they qualified for the knockout rounds. The U.S. lost its first game on the other eight occasions. Seven times it failed to advance. The outlier was seven years ago when coach Bob Bradley’s team rebounded from two heavy defeats to rout Egypt and move on to the Confederations Cup semis. Victories on Tuesday and next Saturday in Philadelphia against Paraguay, games the Americans should be expected to win on home soil, will send them through.
The United States is 13-14-6 all-time against Costa Rica. Home field has typically been the deciding factor, with the Americans posting a 13-6-5 mark as hosts. The Ticos took the last friendly in New Jersey this past October, but the U.S. hasn’t lost to Costa Rica at home in an official competition since 1989 – a span of 15 matches. That includes a pair of 1-0 shutouts in 2013.
Expert Prediction
The United States wins 1-0. That the Americans keep a clean sheet is even money on betting lines.
