USMNT beats Bolivia in final Copa America Centenario tune-up

U.S. forward Gyasi Zardes, right, is congratulated by forward Bobby Wood (7) after scoring during the first half of an international friendly soccer match against Bolivia, Saturday, May. 28, 2016, in Kansas City, Kan.

There's two ways of looking at it, really.

The optimist will point out that the United States men's national team won all three of its pre-Copa America Centenario tune-up games, scoring eight goals and conceding just one. And that it has built nice momentum going into the biggest stateside men's soccer tournament since the 1994 World Cup.

And then there's the cynic's vantage point, positing that two of those wins came against terrible teams – 3-1 over Puerto Rico last Sunday and 4-0 against Bolivia on Saturday. And that the only strong opponent, Ecuador, was barely beaten 1-0 on a 90th-minute goal in a disconcerting Jekyll and Hyde performance. Meanwhile, the cynic adds, there is still no set lineup; the best distributors, Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic, aren't starting; and the front line hasn't yet totally figured out how to function without the injured Jozy Altidore against a competent defense.

Either way, after it vanquished one of its own territories and then the world's 12th-ranked team, the United States finished up its Copa rehearsal against Bolivia in Kansas City. Gyasi Zardes got two goals and John Brooks and Pulisic got the others.

The 4-0 score line, however, flattered the proceedings a tad. Because Bolivia is not good at soccer. It is ranked 79th in the world and has won just twice in all of 2015 and 2016. A mere five of its players are active abroad – in Kuwait, Sweden, Israel, Chile and with the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League. La Verde is 1-5-0 in World Cup qualifying, making it the second-worst team in South America.

Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann rolled out another head-scratching lineup, fielding central defenders Matt Besler and Michael Orozco at left and right back, respectively. It begs the question if, after almost five years in charge, the German still doesn't know what his players' best positions are.

Regardless, against an opposition that produced almost no offense whatsoever, the Americans got enough time on the ball to find ways through the Bolivian lines.

In the 26th minute, Clint Dempsey laid off for Alejandro Bedoya, whose one-time ball over the top to Zardes put the Los Angeles Galaxy striker with the leaden first touch one-on-one with goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra. He beat him from the edge of the box with a tidy finish.

Michael Bradley capitalized on Bolivia's inattentiveness in the 37th minute, taking a quick free kick and slipping it through the defense for Bedoya. The latter slid and cut the ball back for Brooks, who pivoted and coolly slotted it into the net.

Seven minutes after the intermission, Bradley pinged a long ball to Bobby Wood, who got by his defender with a nice chested touch and cut back for Zardes, who only had to redirect the ball into the empty net for his second goal of the night.

It wasn't until well after the hour that Brad Guzan had to really interfere, when Rodrigo Ramalla got through on a shaky moment from the American defense when DeAndre Yedlin turned the ball over in midfield. But his shot was right at the American goalkeeper.

And then Pulisic, who had come on along with Nagbe in the 63rd minute, added a fourth. Nagbe did all the preparatory work, cutting through the defense before setting up the 17-year-old phenom for his first international goal – making him the youngest U.S. goal scorer ever.

If the result was resounding, it's nevertheless hard to peg this U.S. men's national team. It has issues and deficiencies, plainly. But it also has exciting young players in Nagbe, Wood, Pulisic, Brooks and Yedlin who have demonstrated that they might break out on the international stage this summer.

The lack of continuity and stability within the lineup is concerning. And so is the fact that at 8,894, the attendance was the fifth straight friendly on U.S. soil in which the Yanks failed to crack five figures. There are different causes for this, not least of which are the perpetually inflated ticket prices. But it might also suggest a kind of national team apathy.

Making it all the more important that this string of good results isn't a false dawn.