5 greatest USMNT moments under Jurgen Klinsmann

3. Reaching the semifinal of the Copa America Centenario

The Copa America Centenario was a momentous occasion, and one the US had the honor of hosting. It was designed to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of CONMEBOL’s tournament, the Copa America, and while CONCACAF teams are sometimes permitted to play, they never took it seriously.

Prior to the Copa America Centenario, the USMNT had only competed in the tournament three times, and they never finished higher than fourth place. They weren’t favored to win over some of the South American powerhouses like Argentina, Colombia and Chile, but they still wanted to put in a great showing in an effort to grow the game.

USA had a tough group to deal with when they drew Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay. But not only did they get out of the group stage, they won it, and set up a favorable encounter with Ecuador in the quarterfinal. They won that game 2-1, before losing 4-0 to Argentina in the semis.

That last result left a sour taste in some fans’ mouths, but nobody expected them to win. And regardless, making it to the semifinal in a major tournament is an amazing accomplishment. The fact it came on home soil made it even better. The fans also got to see Mexico lose 7-0 to Chile along the way — how much better could it get? Besides, while the Argentina match sucked, at least we got this amazing goal out of it:

You want to grow the game in the States? Get Lionel Messi to score a world class golazo in an important game. Their impressive Copa America performance more than made up for their poor fourth-place finish in the Gold Cup a year earlier. And if Klinsmann doesn’t make it to the end of this year, it’ll be his latest in a long line of achievements with the USMNT.