The USMNT Suffers a Disastrous Loss to Panama
The fragility of qualifying for the knockout rounds in major tournaments was on full display on June 27 in Atlanta, as the United States Men’s National Team saw their Copa America Dreams swing on one moment: A Timothy Weah red card. In the 18th minute of the match, Weah simply hit a Panama defender seemingly unprovoked physically. The USMNT played the rest of the game with 10 men, an extremely difficult task. Despite taking the lead not long after Weah’s sending off, the US could not hold on even for a draw, losing 2-1. The loss is an absolute disaster in what promised to be a successful tournament. Where to begin?
I have to start with the players. There were a few good performances, no doubt. This was one of the better games of Folarin Balogun’s USMNT career, scoring an incredible left footed curler and displaying some truly excellent hold-up play. Christian Pulisic was lively every time he got the ball, unfortunately he just had to spend a lot of the game defending. Weston Mckennie was a threat offensively and had a goal disallowed early on. Antonee Robinson has had an excellent tournament so far.
On the bad side of things, there are a few performances that stand out. Plainly, Timothy Weah let his team down. A usually reliable offensive player, Weah seemed to just have a momentary lapse in judgment that ended with the USMNT playing 70 plus minutes on 10 men. The physical toll that takes cannot be underestimated. It turned what should have been a comfortable USMNT win into a dog fight. Cameron Carter-Vickers was substituted on at the start of the second half and was a fright to watch defend from a USMNT perspective. On Panama’s winning goal he lost his man who got on the end of a cross and buried it past Ethan Horvath. Chris Richards had a few more careless giveaways and near-giveaways. Ricardo Pepi followed up a Bolivia game in which he missed three big chances with a Panama game in which he missed one huge one. While the game was tied 1-1, Pepi headed a lovely Mckennie cross right to the Panama goalkeeper. Panama scored the winner soon after. In the end, it is hard to judge player performances when they played the vast majority of the game with 10 men. So, let’s talk about the manager.
I do not give Gregg Berhalter the majority of the blame for this game. Many of the players showed emotional immaturity, and he got completely stitched up tactically by Weah’s red card. I thought he made the right decision switching to a five-at-the-back formation at half-time to try to hold on to the draw. It would have been a welcome point given the circumstances. However, he made a few mistakes. First, substituting Balogun for Pepi was a problem. Balogun was brilliant in this game. Seemingly the only outlet for a USMNT team sitting deep the entire game, Balogun scored an incredible goal, held the ball up, and drew fouls constantly. He was the perfect outlet for a team that needed one. I can’t deny that he might have been exhausted, playing with 10 men is brutal, especially when you have to chase as much as Balogun had to. However, I would rather see the US go down to nine men than see more of Ricardo Pepi in Balogun’s place. As I mentioned before, Pepi missed a potential winning goal. He also offered no hold-up play or physicality. The US lost its offensive outlet when he stepped on the field. That is on Berhalter. Not bringing on Yunus Musah was a problem as well. Musah is an energizer bunny in the midfield and would happily match the intense physicality of Panama. Lastly, Berhalter has to take some blame for bringing on Carter-Vickers. The performance is on the individual, but he simply cannot be trusted in big games for the USMNT. Berhalter did not do enough to make me trust him in this game.
On the Panama side, they managed the game extremely well. They realized they are a less talented team and knew they had been given a gift when Weah was sent off. They made sure not to waste it. Physical would be an understatement for their play style. The game ended in a 10 versus 10 because Adalberto Carrasquilla was sent off for chopping down Pulisic. The Panama fouls outnumbered the US a whopping 19-4. They were patient and knew that their numbers advantage would get them over the line.
Back over to the USMNT. This game tells me that they are still emotionally immature. Weah losing his head the way he did makes me think he took the matchup for granted. After the game Berhalter was speaking about the referee. The only players who seemed ready to match Panama’s physicality were Pulisic, Balogun, Robinson, and McKennie. You have to beat a team like Panama. Perhaps, even with ten men the USMNT still should win that game. This game confirmed some of our worst fears about the team’s ability to play with the big teams.
All hope is not lost, however. Uruguay’s blowout win over Bolivia means that they could very well rest their best players against the USMNT. If the US and Panama both draw their next game, the US would go through on goal difference. The most likely path is a USMNT win over Uruguay. Uruguay have looked brilliant of late, but if they rest players this is absolutely possible. The question is, can the US rally the troops and put this disaster of a loss behind them?
