United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann believes his side were “too nice” after they crashed out of the Copa America Centenario following a 4-0 thrashing by Argentina in Houston.
The German says that his players never got over the early goal scored by Argentina in the third minute of the game, but getting to the semi-finals alone is a big achievement for the Americans.
Too much respect shown
The World Cup winner also added that his side showed too much respect to their opposition during the rest of the match, as they failed to record a single shot on or off target in the whole game.
“I think you could clearly see when we went 1-0 down, we had far too much respect and they were able to play their game", he said in his post-match press conference.
He stated that the coaching staff tried to “scream into the field” for the side to become more physical or to “step on their toes”, but nothing came across.
Free kick moved into shooting range
Klinsmann was left unhappy with his side and the officials after the Argentina players moved the free-kick, which led to the second goal, “five yards” so that Lionel Messi was within shooting range.
He said: “The free kick from Messi, they pushed five years up one step at a time. I was screaming at the referee and the fourth official and that’s why he’s suddenly in range for shooting that goal.”
The German believes that if the ball was in its correct position, then Messi “doesn’t score that goal”, but those are “little things” that the U.S. need to figure out, according to Klinsmann.
No shame in losing to Argentina
Klinsmann stated that Argentina proved why they are the number one team in the world with their performance against his side in the semi-final.
He believes there was no shame in losing to the “world’s best side”, and he gave a “huge compliment” to the Argentinian’s.
“I told the guys there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “We have to learn and move forward. There will always be a step backwards and then two more steps forward.”
Klinsmann says that is all “part of the process” as his side travel to Phoenix to play in the third-place playoff game.