USMNT Still Have Hope to Advance at Copa Despite Loss to Colombia

Drop the pitchforks and take a deep breath. 

Despite falling 2-0 to Colombia in the Copa America Centenario opener on Friday night, the United States men's national team displayed signs of hope that they can earn the required number of points to advance to the competition's knockout phase. 

Yes, the Yanks made two inexcusable mistakes that led to a pair of goals for Jose Pekerman's side, but the overall performance Jurgen Klinsmann's men put in wasn't the worst they've had during the Klinsmann era. 

Outside of Geoff Cameron's poor marking in the buildup to Cristian Zapata's eight-minute tally and DeAndre Yedlin's turn into the ball that led to James Rodriguez's 42nd-minute penalty, the much-maligned back four kept the threat of Colombia to a minimum. Although the focus will be on the pair of defensive errors committed in the first half, the back four performed better than expected given their lack of chemistry. 

Cameron was a vital part of the defensive setup as he made a few key tackles in the box across 90 minutes to prevent the dangerous threat posed by the James-led Colombia attack.

Brooks' top moment of the contest came in the 54th minute, when he stepped out of the box to make an enforcing sliding challenge on Juan Cuadrado. In addition to that play, Brooks kept Carlos Bacca silent for the majority of the match. Neither Yedlin nor Fabian Johnson were burned by the Colombian wingers throughout the match, but the one criticism of the full-backs is they didn't bomb forward enough. 

But if you put things into perspective in Group A, a two-goal loss to the group's best team is not the end of the world. The Yanks have a familiar foe in Costa Rica up next on Tuesday before they take on Paraguay in the group finale on Saturday.

If the Yanks fail to gain any points against the Ticos, then you can pick up your pitchforks, march toward U.S. Soccer headquarters and demand change for the umpteenth time since Klinsmann took over for Bob Bradley. 

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Between now and Tuesday, the USMNT have a chance to tweak a few things to improve on Friday's showing at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

The biggest adjustment the Yanks have to make is adding more creativity to the middle of the park. Jermaine Jones and Alejandro Bedoya weren't able to bridge the gap between Michael Bradley and the forwards, and with Bradley occupied deeper on the pitch, nothing clicked moving forward. 

That problem can easily be solved by inserting Darlington Nagbe into the starting 11 for Tuesday's clash at Soldier Field in Chicago. The Portland Timbers man has a chance to be a true difference-maker in the final third if he receives more than 25 minutes to make an impact.

With Clint Dempsey dropping back into the center to receive the ball, Nagbe has an opportunity to combine with the experienced forward to open up space in the Costa Rica defense. 

The other fix Klinsmann needs to make is to find a more useful role for Bobby Wood. If he starts on the left wing, Wood has to be moved into the middle of the forward trio at some point in the match to be the effective scorer he was at Union Berlin.

That means Graham Zusi or Christian Pulisic could start on the left, and Wood enters as a substitute for Dempsey, or Wood shifts inside during a substitution that sees Zusi or Pulisic come on for Dempsey. 

By reconfiguring his attack with two changes, Klinsmann should see his side create more chances on a consistent basis. At some point, someone other than Dempsey has to threaten the opposing goal.

The Yanks can move a step closer to that by using Nagbe in a playmaking position for 90 minutes. If Bradley, who had a rare bad game on Friday, returns to his old self on Tuesday, he will also be able to jump forward at times to test the Costa Rica back line alongside Nagbe. 

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The black cloud that many assume lingers over the USMNT after Friday night won't truly appear until they lose to Costa Rica.

If a win or draw is earned against the Ticos and other results fall their way, which is possible given the way Colombia played and the impending status of James, who left Friday's match with a shoulder injury in the 72nd minute, the Yanks will have a chance to advance with a win over Paraguay. 

The USMNT are nowhere close to reaching their doomsday scenario at the Copa America. One game does not determine the fate of a squad at a major tournament; the Yanks know this from firsthand experience at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 World Cup. 

Winning cures everything, and if the Yanks build off Friday's performance in their second group contest, they will renew faith in the fanbase and set themselves up for a spot in the knockout round. 

Joe Tansey covers U.S. Soccer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JTansey90.