Colombia, Americans eliminated from Copa America contention

Jul 5, 2007 - 4:35 AM BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela (Ticker) - Colombia and the United States head into their final Copa America Group C game with nothing to play for.

Both teams' hopes of making the quarterfinals ended Wednesday night when Brazil edged Ecuador, 1-0, and Chile played to a 1-1 draw with Mexico.

Neither the U.S. or Colombia had collected any points from their opening games and were hoping to scrape through as a third-placed team.

Chile, though, got one of the third-place slots after tying Mexico. In Group A, Uruguay had already secured one of the two third-placed spots available with four points.

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."