Last night [Thursday, June 16] there was another big sports game that wasn’t the NBA Finals. The US Men’s soccer team defeated Ecuador, 2-1, in Seattle in a chippy game to advance to the next round of the Copa America tournament.
Each team saw a player sent off, after Ecuador’s winger Antonio Valencia received a second yellow in the 52nd minute, and the US’ Jermaine Jones received a red card for a subsequent confrontation with Valencia. But an early goal from Clint Dempsey and a follow up goal from Gyasi Zardes were enough to ensure the US came out on top.
While Europe has the European Championship going on at the moment, the Americas have their own tournament, the Copa America, which started well before the Euros did last week. With this win, the United States moves into the semi-final round, and they are awaiting the winners of the Argentina vs. Venezuela game.
Argentina are the heavy favorites to win at this point of the competition, but with strong sides from Columbia and Mexico still in the tournament, there is still a lot left to play for. And, after barely escaping the group stage, the US will be looking to follow up these two consecutive wins by clinching a place in the Copa America finals.
The US’ next game is on Tuesday, June 21st at 9 pm EST.
