Former USMNT star Freddy Adu was critical of the team’s effort after losing 5-1 to Colombia on Saturday.
With rising talents Tim Weah, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, and Folarin Balogun on the pitch, Colombia dished up a wake-up call for Gregg Berhalter’s side at Commander’s Field.
Following the friendly, Adu took to social media and expressed frustration over the performance.
‘What are your thoughts about the #USMNT game today? I thought it was one of the poorest games I’ve seen from this current group,’ he wrote. ‘There’s too much talent for the team to be performing like this IMHO!’
The landslide began in the sixth minute for Jhon Arias opening the scoring for Los Cafeteros. Rafael Santos Borré then followed up with an overhead-kick goal in the 19th.
While Weah managed to get the stars and stripes on the board in the 58th, their guest would come back with one punch after the other in response. Richard Rios found the net in the 77th, followed by Jorge Carrascal in the 85th.
Luis Sinisterra put the nail in the coffin three minutes later, as the US side faced a humiliating loss to prelude hosting the Copa America on American soil.
‘I truly believe that we have to make it a priority to schedule more games against the top teams in the world,’ Adu continued. ‘We get away with alot of these ‘mistakes’ playing against Concacaf teams but you get punished for those by teams like Colombia.’
‘There was no sense of urgency. [It] felt like the players know their spots are safe no matter what and they played like it. To be honest that is worrisome because if that doesn’t change then we will never get the best out of this team/generation.’
When a user asked Adu if he thought Berhalter was fit for the position, Adu said he would ‘have a better idea after this summer’s tournament.’
The USA is spearheading Group C, with Uruguay being their biggest threat, alongside Panama and Bolivia.
They will attempt to brush off the clinic in the hands of Colombia when they open their campaign against Bolivia on June 23 in Arlington, Texas.
‘Really looking forward to the Copa America this summer,’ Adu continued. ‘Alot of questions are going to be answered for better or for worse.’