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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Shortly after watching what had appeared to be a disheartening defeat to Colombia in the opening game of the Copa América, United States Coach Jurgen Klinsmann was an exemplar of serenity.
He sat in a packed room late Friday at Levi’s Stadium for his postgame news conference and insisted that he was “absolutely O.K.” with the team’s play and that, besides the 2-0 score, the two sides had been “totally even.”
His players had asserted themselves well against a top team, he said repeatedly. He seemed content to claim a moral victory. In his eyes, a sunny road was ahead.
“It’s absolutely no problem now going forward,” Klinsmann said about the team’s two remaining group stage games. “Say we play Costa Rica to get 3 points, and we play Paraguay to get 3 points, we’re in the quarterfinal.”
That may be so. Colombia entered the game ranked No. 3 in FIFA’s world rankings, featuring players on the…
