- Slug: Sports-Copa America (590)
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By JOSEPH STEEN
Cronkite News
GLENDALE – Ryan Shirah has been around soccer for a long time as a member of the American Outlaws, a group of hard-core soccer followers driving support for the sport in the U.S.
The Phoenix chapter of the Outlaws and thousands of other U.S. fans packed the Westgate Entertainment District area Saturday for a U.S. match against Colombia to decide third place in the Copa America tournament.
“A lot of casual fans don’t understand if we win third place that this is the furthest we’ve gone in a major worldwide tournament,” Shirah said. “The Copa America has been around longer than the World Cup. To win third place in the 100th year on our soil would mean a lot.”
Despite the turnout at University of Phoenix Stadium, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team was unable to capture the third-place finish fans were hoping for, losing 1-0 to Colombia in a hard-fought game.
“One of our strengths is physicality,” said U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard. “Obviously we weren’t happy with that in the Argentina game (a 4-0 loss in the semifinals). I think there was a response tonight.”
Howard, who started in place of Brad Guzan, said that he’s seen progress with the team and that the senior squad played well.
“I think there has been some challenges in this tournament,” Howard said. “Colombia was a good measuring stick because we played them twice. We didn’t get up against them enough (in the first game), we felt that we could have won this game.”
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said that finishing in the top four in this tournament is a “wonderful achievement” and that the players should be proud of themselves. Many felt that the team progressed well in this tournament with players such as John Brooks, Geoff Cameron, and Bobby Wood making big strides for the team.
“Jurgen’s always believed in me so I’m real thankful,” Wood said. “Playing with Clint (Dempsey) and Gyasi (Zardes) as the tournament went on, we developed and I think people saw that.”
Although the U.S. team didn’t finish third, it did finish higher than Mexico, which was eliminated in the quarterfinals, and Brazil, which didn’t make it out of its group.
And the results did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Shirah and the rest of the American Outlaws, who showed up in force and paraded to the stadium together.
“We were fans outside the national spotlight that nobody paid attention to,” Shirah said. “That’s kind of how the name came about.”
The American Outlaws were founded in 2007 in Lincoln, Nebraska and have grown to more than 187 chapters around the world. All 50 states have a chapter, as does London in the United Kingdom.
Though many did not expect the U.S. to make it out of the group stage after its group-opening loss to Colombia, the team exceeded expectations by reaching the semifinals and playing a competitive game against Colombia in the third place match.
“We definitely grew as a team this tournament,” said Wood. “When the World Cup qualifying comes we will have to take it a game at a time again and get a result.”
With the Copa America over, the U.S. team will look to build on its run in its last two games in the fourth stage of World Cup Qualifying for the 2018 tournament in Russia. The games are in September against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago.
