| Advertisement |
HOUSTON, June 21 (UPI) -- A Copa America benching won't stop Alejandro Bedoya from making an impact on the Centenario semifinal Tuesday against Argentina. And Bedoya isn't calling for the "golf clap crowd," in a post he made for The Players' Tribune.
Advertisement
Bedoya, Jermaine Jones, and Bobby Wood are forced to sit out of the 9 p.m. match up after receiving red and yellow card suspensions.
In the post, titled "The Noise," Bedoya talks about his close relationship with Clint Dempsey and Geoff Cameron. He calls the group "The Three Amigos." Bedoya tells a story about himself and Cameron watching Argentina's 4-1 win against Venezuela. While the duo watched the game from a Houston restaurant, they overheard fans discussing how the USMNT had no shot at beating Argentina.
The fans said that the U.S. Men's soccer squad would allow a hat trick to star Lionel Messi. But Bedoya and the USMNT aren't backing down.
"Now, not to beat up on Messi and Argentina — he's easily the greatest player in the world and they're one of the best teams in the world. But in the match Geoff and I saw, Leo was given a lot of space and a lot of time on the ball. The U.S. is just not going to play him like that," Bedoya wrote.
"So as the whistle blew, Geoff and I just turned to each other."
"You know what? This team's beatable. We can do this," Bedoya wrote.
Messi is a five-time Ballon d'Or winner. He has a chance to snatch Argentina's all-time scoring record against the USMNT. He is also vying for his first major title for his homeland. Messi has been on the field for two Copa America final losses and one loss in the World Cup final.
It appears that USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann agrees with Bedoya.
"There's no reason at all why we can't win Copa America,'' Klinsmann recently told the New York Post. "We traveled the world the last few years to very difficult friendly games all over Europe and in Mexico, and we came away with wins. We surprised a lot of people all over. Obviously a lot of people counted us out.
Bedoya defends his friend Dempsey, referring to critics following the USMNT's opening loss to Colombia, in the Players' Tribune piece.
"People know what he can do on the pitch. He's arguably the best American soccer player right now. But Clint's not the guy to give us a Hoosiers-style pump-up speech. If you're looking for words of wisdom, look elsewhere. He's not the most vocal guy in the locker room. But Clint's got something else," Bedoya wrote.
"Clint's got this — I don't know really what to call it — he's just got this Texas swagger. A never-back-down attitude," Bedoya wrote.
The midfielder, who sees himself as a security blanket of sorts for younger players, continues with a defense to the critics and media's hot takes.
"And here's what I say to that: Go ahead and doubt us. Go ahead and underestimate us," Bedoya wrote.
Lastly, Bedoya defends the U.S. fans.
"We're listening to each other and we're listening to you. Because for as much doubt as we've faced, our fans have faced it too. Americans don't get soccer. They don't understand the game. They'll never embrace it. We're not listening to that noise, either. We know that, together with our fans, we're growing the game," Bedoya wrote.
Klinsmann also said that despite the Albicelestes' No. 1 world ranking, the USMNT could prevail against any team.
"All I will tell them is go at them, be courageous, believe you can do it, absolutely,'' Klinsmann told the Post. "Every team is beatable in the world. If you understand that moment right now, then do it. Go for it."
