The US national team faced Colombia in England, at Fulham's Craven Cottage in an international friendly which drew a strong crowd of fans from each nation.

In the 8th minute, a USA corner was whipped in and headed down, only to be handballed by Pablo Amero. Consequently, the referee Szymon Marciniak gave a penalty for the offence, sparking outrage from the Colombian players as they clearly thought that it was not an intentional handball. Consequently, the penalty was tucked away by Jozy Altidore.

Each team struggled to establish control of possession, as neither USA or Colombia looked comfortable on the ball in the first 15 minutes.

€80 million man James Rodriguez came close minutes later, with his drilled costless-kick just going wide of the post. The Colombian fans didn't seem too bothered about the end product of their side's offensive moves, instead they were in elation just to witness their national heroes playing in front of them.

Colombia continued to attack with intent. Jeison Murillo won a header from a James Rodriguez cross which looked like it was heading for the top left corner, if it wasn't for a great save by Brad Guzan.

Colombia looked to be in control of the game after the 30 minute mark as they went close to equalising again. Sevilla striker Carlos Bacca hit the post with a right-footed shot, as James Rodriguez was the creator of another Colombia attack once more.

Colombia very much so looked the side that surprised and impressed people across the world earlier this year at the World Cup. Despite this, they were proving to be far from clincial enough to find the equaliser which they looked so certain to get.

USA went into half-time with a 1-0 lead, although Colombia could have had a penalty just before the break with another Bacca attempt being blocked by John Brooks, who looked to have used his left arm in the process. It was certainly a debatable decision as he looked to have used his arm to block the shot, however his arm was by his side and it was hard to tell if he showed any intent to block the shot with his arm.

Colombia were definitely dominating the stats in terms of possession and attempts, which wasn't reflected by the score at the break.

At the start of the second half, Colombia continued to apply the pressure which USA had been withstanding in the last 20 minutes of the first half. They won a few set pieces in the first ten minutes, but failed to put any of them in the back of the net.

In the 59th minute, Jermaine Jones managed to test goalkeeper Vargas with a header from inside the box, however Vargas managed to save the headed attempt well.

A minute later Colombia managed to finish one of many chances that they'd created. James Rodriguez, the creator again, looked to put Teo through on goal however he let it run and Bacca raced in from an onside position and took it round the keeper to grab the equaliser. Teo was in an offside position but looked to interefere with play even though he didn't touch the ball. This caused protest amongst the US team, but the referee stuck by his decision.

Colombia could have taken the lead in the space of the next ten minutes, as they created multiple chances, having three shots saved by Brad Guzan in three minutes during one period. 

Colombia were in firm control of this game and went in search of a winner as James Rodriguez's low drive from outside the area was saved by the excellent Brad Guzan low in the bottom corner, who was keeping his side in the game with his magnificent performance.

Soon after, the US defence were made to pay for allowing Colombia to have so many opportunities to test the keeper, as Brad Guzan was finally beaten with three minutes of normal time to go. Teo was the goalscorer with an impressive header from very close range which was assisted by Edwin Cardona.

Unfortunately, the game hadn't been the entertaining spectacle many had expected to see, based on what we had witnessed from both sides at the World Cup. 

Colombia controlled the game superbly and created plenty of chances, but they had both their poor finishing and the terrific goalkeeping of Brad Guzan to blame for not finding by a larger margain. James Rodriguez was particularly impressive for Colombia. Whereas, it was an average performance from Jurgen Klinsmann's side, who maybe due to it being a friendly, didn't really get into the game at all.

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