This was US Soccer’s starting lineup for the 1995 Copa America semifinal – Boston.com

There is a first time for everything.

When it comes to reaching the Copa America semifinals, that first time came for the U.S. men’s national soccer team in 1995. A year removed from reaching the round of 16 of the 1994 World Cup on home soil, a U.S. side that included national team stalwarts like Tab Ramos, Alexi Lalas and Paul Caligiuri made a surprising run to a fourth-place finish at the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay. Before losing to Brazil, 1-0, in that Copa semifinal, the U.S. notched memorable wins over Mexico — 4-1 on penalties in the quarterfinals — and Argentina — 3-0 in the group stage.

“If that happened now, the world would be going crazy,” former U.S. midfielder Cobi Jones later told USSoccer.com of the win over Argentina. “The United States would be going crazy beyond what they’ve seen up until this point in the World Cup. That’s absolutely massive for us to not just beat Argentina, but to annihilate Argentina. It was 3-0 and it was a dominant performance.”

In a rematch of their round-of-16 defeat at the ’94 World Cup, the U.S. faced Brazil in Maldonado before 8,000 fans with a spot in the ’95 Copa final on the line. After a standout performance in the quarterfinal penalty shootout against Mexico, Brad Friedel got the starting nod in goal against Brazil over teammate Kasey Keller. With then-interim U.S. coach Steve Sampson encouraging his team to play positively, the U.S. again lost to Brazil 1-0.

“We played a very intelligent, possession-minded, attacking-minded style of soccer,” Sampson later told MLSSoccer.com. “I believe any American fan that was watching at the time could truly have been proud of the way that our team played on that day. Even though we lost 1-0, it spoke volumes to what was about to come in the qualification phase [for the 1998 World Cup] and eventually beating Brazil in 1998 in the Gold Cup.”

Watch the full game: