USMNT may play friendly vs. Colombia at Craven Cottage

The United States looks set to play Colombia on November 14 at Craven Cottage in London. Multiple reports have hinted at the match, and it now appears on FIFA.com, seeming to indicate that the match is likely to be finalized.

The Americans were originally looking to play Croatia at Craven Cottage and negotiations got far enough that the Croatian FA announced the friendly, but that fell apart. Now, Croatia is playing Argentina at Upton Park instead and the U.S. looks set to play Colombia, who they almost played in October, but that deal fell through.

Colombia would provide the U.S. an even stiffer test than Croatia would have. Now that Falcao is fit again, the Colombians are downright scary, with him and one of their other super talented strikers (they have about eight guys the U.S. would kill to have) in front of James Rodriguez and a tough midfield that does well to protect a backline that can struggle with pace.

Jurgen Klinsmann repeatedly says that the U.S. needs to challenge themselves against top flight teams and they will do just that against Colombia. They will also do it without some of their best players. The match falls on a FIFA date, but also in the middle of the MLS Playoffs and U.S. managers have not called in players whose teams are still in the playoffs before. Assuming the favorites advance, Clint Dempsey, DeAndre Yedlin, Omar Gonzalez and Jermaine Jones will all be unavailable for the Colombia friendly.

The U.S. is already scheduled to play Ireland on November 18 in Dublin. That match has been finalized and the U.S. has been working hard to make the friendly before it happen in England so it can be easy travel from one match to the other.