To the casual observer, various problems were apparent.

On offense, there was never a feeling that the American attackers had any capacity to weave threatening moves toward the Colombia goal. Their formation scrunched up in undisciplined ways at inopportune times, flattening and narrowing when it more likely needed to expand to enfeeble the compact Colombia defensive structure.

That Klinsmann did not make any substitutions at halftime — leaving the group on the field unchanged until he inserted Christian Pulisic and Darlington Nagbe after 66 minutes — seemed to allow the problem to fester and become more glaring.

On defense, the team appeared to lack a consistent way to pressure the Colombian players while they built their passing moves from their half. It was clear that Colombia, after taking the early lead, would be happy to sit back inside its end, yet the Americans did little to exploit that positioning on the field.

“In the next day or so, we’ll certainly look and see how we can improve going forward,” Bradley said. “It hurts to go down so early in a big game, early on in a tournament. You don’t want to put yourself behind the eight ball right away.”

There were positives to take away, too. The defense, in its own half, did an admirable job of bottling up Colombia’s effervescent attacking players. Klinsmann called the back line outstanding.

Clint Dempsey, who had a mixed game from the center forward position, nevertheless provided the team’s best scoring chances, including a first-half shot that swerved just outside the left post and a second-half free kick that required a flying save from David Ospina, the Colombia goalkeeper.