The U.S. men's national team needs to make some changes before heading into the 2018 World Cup.
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That became painfully obvious while watching the team fall to Colombia 1-0 on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz. Although the tournament as a whole should be seen as a positive — fourth place matched the American's best-ever Copa America finish — the USMNT needs to do a number of things differently if it ever wants to compete against the top teams.
Whatever the future holds for the USMNT, it needs to feature someone other than Gyasi Zardes out wide. Time and time again, Zardes failed to deliver in this tournament, and at 24 years old, it's unlikely he will develop much more.
It's clear coach Jurgen Klinsmann admires Zardes' work rate and willingness to track back on defense, but Zardes is a forward who can't shoot and often turns the ball over in the final third.
Replacing Zardes with Christian Pulisic now will help the team down the road.
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It's also clear the USMNT needs Jozy Altidore — yes, he's still only 26 years old — to recover from his nagging hamstring injuries. Altidore was the team's most dangerous player in the 2014 World Cup, and it doesn't have anyone else like him at its disposal.
Youth should be the name of the game for the USMNT from now until the 2018 World Cup. Developing talented youngsters such as Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Green (Bayern Munich) and Matt Miazga (Chelsea) could push the team over the edge and shift the U.S. from pretenders into contenders.
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All three of those players struggle to get time on their domestic teams because they play for top-level clubs and have to beat out a lot of guys to win a spot. That shouldn't discourage the U.S. from playing them, though. It's better to have young kids fighting for places on top clubs than playing lifetime MLS guys who lack the talent to compete against the likes of Argentina, Germany and France.
Copa America Centenario acted as a microcosm of where the USMNT stands in world soccer right now. The Americans can beat medium-level teams (Ecuador, Costa Rica, Paraguay), but they are not ready to take down the giants (Colombia, Argentina).
Some will continue to wonder whether or not Klinsmann is the man to lead them out of mediocrity. It certainly seems like he will stick with his favorites no matter what — even at the expense of some of the country's more talented players.
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Klinsmann could get one more chance in a major tournament to show he has really helped this team improve. If the team gets knocked out early at the World Cup, he should be gone.
Although the USMNT won't be among the favored teams when the next World Cup comes to Russia, it can give the top teams a stronger fight if it starts making lineup adjustments now.