Colombia, Americans need great deal of help to advance

Jul 5, 2007 - 1:39 AM BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela (Ticker) - Colombia and the United States head into their final Copa America Group C game relying heavily on results elsewhere going in their favor if they are to have any hope of making the quarterfinals.

Neither side has collected any points from their opening games and will be hoping to scrape through as a third-placed team.

In Group A, Uruguay has already secured one of two third-placed spots available with four points.

Group B, which concludes on Wednesday, has Brazil and Chile on three points each, while Ecuador are point-less. Therefore, if Chile loses to Mexico and Ecuador is beaten by Brazil, the winner of the Colombia-USA match would still have a chance of progressing provided it scores plenty of goals.

The Colombian press have already called for the head of Jorge Luis Pinto, and the coach is clearly worried.

"If I was a bit worried about some aspects before the Copa America, I must confess that now I am even more worried than before ahead of the World Cup qualifiers," Pinto said.

"We'll see if we make some changes to play the United States. I want to field at least three players who haven't played before in the tournament."

The United States came into the tournament on the back of its CONCACAF Gold Cup success on home soil, but coach Bob Bradley decided to travel to Venezuela with a virtual second-string team.

Despite coming in for criticism, the coach still believes his troops are gaining valuable experience.

"I think it's going to help us in the long run," Bradley said. "We have to learn how to manage a game. That's the most important thing as a whole."

"I think the Argentina game was a wake up call," midfielder Ricardo Clark said. "Against Paraguay, we came out with more intensity and we created a lot more chances.

"I think we put in a good effort, which is positive, but at the end of the day, soccer is a results-oriented business and we haven't got one. ... All we can do now is get better and try to get a win against Colombia."