Colombia club United States thanks to late spark in Copa América tune-up

Colombia scored three times in an 11-minute span late in the second half to polish off a 5-1 victory over the US men’s national team on Saturday in Landover, Maryland.

With their first Conmebol Copa América match set for 23 June, the Americans seemingly still have a lot of work to do. They gave up two goals in the first 19 minutes and didn’t get on the board until the 58th, when Timothy Weah put a right-footed shot into the back of the net.

But Colombia responded with its three-goal outburst, with all three scores coming off inexcusable giveaways.

A 77th-minute goal from an unmarked Richard Rios sealed the victory for the Colombians, and Jorge Carrascal scored in the 85th minute to make it 4-1 after an egregious turnover by Weah.

Luis Sinisterra got the final goal in the 88th minute.

Weah had given the US hope when he took a through ball from Folarin Balogun and powered a shot past goalkeeper Camilo Vargas for his sixth goal in 38 matches with the national team.

But as was the case all match, the US played shoddy defense, and Sinisterra made two stepovers from the right side of the box before spotting Rios, whose shot deflected off US defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and went past goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Jhon Arias put Colombia on top in the sixth minute with a clinical finish after an Antonee Robinson giveaway. Rafael Borre then made it 2-0 just 13 minutes later to punish the Americans for their inability to make simple clearances.

Colombia, ranked 12th in the Fifa world rankings, extended their unbeaten streak to 22 matches with Saturday’s victory.

The Colombians are 14-3-5 v the US, with the last American win coming in March 2005.

Before starting Copa América action against Bolivia in two weeks, the US will face Brazil in a friendly on Wednesday in Orlando.