U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper Matt Turner offered an apology to fans after his side was crushed 5-1 by Colombia in a friendly on Saturday.
The USMNT got its Copa América preparations off to the worst possible start, as it was thoroughly outplayed at Commanders Field in Landover, Maryland.
Gregg Berhalter’s side was sloppy throughout, and three late Colombia goals turned a narrow defeat into a blowout.
Turner was also at a level below his best, as he was partially to blame on Colombia’s first two goals, and was also yellow carded in the second half for handling the ball outside his box.
“Obviously disappointed in the way we played, the way I played,” Turner said in an interview on TNT after the game.
“Everybody needs to look in the mirror after that game and figure it out because obviously that’s not the level that’s required to compete.”
As the USMNT aims to improve ahead of Wednesday’s game against Brazil, Turner had some strong words on his side’s display Saturday.
“We can’t get too hung up, we have a game in another couple of days,” the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper said. “And it’s important for us to be able to respond. When you look forward to tournaments, it’s not always going to be perfect, and you have to figure out the ways to get the job done.
“Today we didn’t have any answers for the way Colombia changed themselves, changed the way they pressed. And they just had a different intensity about them that we didn’t have for the game.
“So it’s really, really disappointing in front of such a great crowd to perform like that, so I want to apologize to the fans as well, because that’s not what we’re about and we need to bounce back in a big way.”
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