For all its positives, the U.S. experience at the Copa America Centenario ended with a dull, clanging thud.
Using previous tournaments as a litmus, U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann did well to push the USMNT into the semifinals of the Copa America. Klinsmann identified the semifinals as a possibility in the run-up to the tournament, and while some expressed doubts, the U.S. got there anyway. And as an unlikely group winner and a deserved 2-1 winner over Ecuador to boot.
But the way the tournament ended left the U.S. in an awkward place. In the semis, they were crushed 4-0 by Argentina and failed to register a single shot in a match for the first time since at least 1998.