By FRANCO PANIZO
TAMPA – The U.S. men's national team entered its game on Saturday night with an unblemished record against Panama and in the all-time history of the group stages in the Gold Cup.
Both unbeaten records were broken at Raymond James Stadium after Panama held off a comeback effort from the United States and defeated the Americans, 2-1, in a Group C match played in front of 27,731 fans.
The Americans fell behind 2-0 in the first half, but a Clarence Goodson headed goal and a number of chances in the final 15 minutes of the match almost saw them pull out a result.
"(A loss) was bound to happen at some point," said Landon Donovan. "CONCACAF teams are getting better and better. It's a pretty good team that we played against. It's disappointing but the reality is that it's over now. We've got to learn something from it."
Panama jumped out on top in the 19th minute when Goodson scored an own goal after Tim Howard made a save on Eduardo Dasent's headed effort.The Panamanians doubled their lead 17 minutes later when Gabriel Gomez scored off a penalty kick following a Tim Ream foul.
"I went to clear it and as I was swinging I was already committed and (Blas Perez) gave me a little nudge," said Ream. "It was on my right side and as I was swinging through I caught him."
The United States rallied in the second half, cutting the lead to one on Goodson's goal, but several quality chances went begging, including a point-blank open look from Chris Wondolowski that was easier to make than miss.
Panama came out with plenty of energy and out-hustled a flat-looking USA squad. The forward tandem of Blas Perez and Luis Tejada gave Goodson and Ream headaches all match long, with Perez forcing Ream into a penalty foul and Tejada forcing Goodson into an own goal.
""It wasn't that we were so flat, we still moved the ball and had some chances," said Donovan of how the United States started the match. "We were just a little off for some reason and I wish I had an answer (as to why we start slow). If I knew the answer we wouldn't be in that (situation)."
The U.S. midfield that dominated Canada struggled badly to cope with Panama's pace and movement. Second-half substitutes Alejandro Bedoya and Sacha Kljestan gave the team energy, but the United States couldn't finish off the handful of quality chances it created late in the match.
"We had the ball in some pretty good spots but still didn't finish plays off," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley.
The win gave Panama first place in Group C with six points while the United States falls to second with three points and the tiebreaker of head-to-head against third-place Canada.
"Panamanians (as a people) don't need a reason to celebrate, but this will definitely make them celebrate," said Valdes.
The Americans must now beat Guadeloupe in the final group game to earn a top two finish in Group C. The United States could still finish first in Group C if Canada beats Panama in their final group match and the USA has a better goal difference than both Canada and Panama.
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What do you think of the Americans' 2-1 loss to Panama? Who impressed/disappointed you? Still can't believe the U.S. team lost its first ever Gold Cup group stage match?
Share your thoughts below.
+1
I was assuming shark would have the answer to that last question for us, but haven’t seen him here today…
Yes, but Jones is much more likely to accrue another one than Altidore. And in any case, you can’t sub out everyone.
Are you not aware that the best two 3rd-place finishers also advance to the quarters? Canada is currently the best of the three 3rd-place teams, with 2 points more than either Guatemala or El Salvador. It’s hardly the case that Canada has lost all hope of a place in the quarterfinals, even if they don’t finish 1st or 2nd in Group C.
It’s simpler than that: we beat Guadaloupe, Canada fails to beat Panama, we finish 2nd in the group and arethen knocked out in the quarters by Jamaica, a team that’s bigger and faster than Panama and has better finishing.
“He was the only player who would pick up the ball in the defensive or middle thirds and play passes forward.”
Well I don’t know what game you watched, but there was another midfielder name Jermaine Jones in this same match who repeatedly did the same things (even receiving a high-profile bogus yellow card for it, in one instance). So it’s rather ironic to hear you say that and then complain about people with blinders on…
But yes, you rarely see anything but 4 on the back line, that is quite true.
If this doesnt show that we need another coach I don’t know what will. We have spent the past 2 years playing like this! Im sick of watching us start slow, and go down every game before showing some heart. Yea the individual performance sucked and that is on the players but at the same time when it comes to the frequency with which we see our players performing in this manner, it’s on the coach to change this and implement the correct strategy which prevent this from happening. This ship has long sailed but I would have loved to have seen what a Bielsa or a Jurgen K. could have done with this squad. I don’t have a problem with Bradley and he’s done a fantastic job working with our team when we didn’t always have the best talent, and I truly believe that given top talent Bob would do some great things but with the current incarnation of the USMNT I just don’t believe that he really has the potential to take the squad to the level we as fans and a nation so desperately want to be at. Right now we’ve got a B-minus team talentwise (C+ when we are playing like we did in the first half against Panama) and sometimes what will help a team that is our level play higher, is superior coaching. He doesn’t have to be European or South American (but let’s face it the best and brightest minds in the game are, so he probably will be from one of those places) If we don’t win or make the final of this tournament, I’m sorry but it truly might be time to consider a change. And given our history, we have no real reason to believe we won’t make the final but if we somehow get shocked again it’s an unavoidable discussion which must take place (even if we dont make the change at the end of the day)
Umm yea Gio isn’t all that. He’s a fantastic player who derailed his career by leaving Barcelona to early but given his trouble finding time on the pitch (prior to this season) I can’t rate him as a “we don’t have” type of player unless he continues playing the way he did this year into next season and the future
they were playing 2 up top, not too mention getting numbers forward in attack. Also this is the modern game where fullbacks actually get into the attack, but dolo was just sitting at the half way line all night right?
This is a soccer forum with an “American voice”. Panama was given plenty of props before the game. This is our forum to vent about a game we should have won and why we didn’t.
The end game is the 2014 WC..and quite frankly i don’t see alot of these guys playing a major role then. It would be nice to have; Mix, Gyau and even lletget with the squad.
Hell as loaded as Germany is they have 5 or 6 players under 21 with their national team.
Our pipeline of future players have alot to offer in terms of skill and desire.
No, just a gut reaction when I saw who the ref was having seen him many times before.
My solution: get kids out of the HS/College system. MLS teams need to set-up reserve and academies from youth on up like they do everywhere else in the world. Did Messi play HS ball or go to college? Rooney? Xavi? Chicharito? or hundreds of other top flight Euro or S. American players? NO. We will never produce players of that claiber until we get out of the HS/College set up that rewards “athletes” and not skill.
Panama: 68th in FIFA rankings. Of the 12 teams in the GC, Panama is ranked 7th, US 1st
Next time I hear the argument “but our best athletes don’t play soccer” and “What if LeBron and LT were soccer players”, I will throw up…
Guys, you are clueless…Xabi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa are “great athletes”: tall, physical,dominant…hahaha…soccer/football is not NFL: you don’t have to be 300lb , 6’5 to win.
It’s all about skill, first touch, awareness of the game…this game is NOT about the brute force…until the US stops playing the kick-and-run style which they copied from England, they will NEVER be successful…
Thank God Messi isn’t an American. He would have been destroyed by now playing every week against the superpowers of UNC Willmington and College of William& Mary(no disrespect to either school as they are fine academic institutions)…
Most people still don’t get it here: see who’s winning the World Cups: France, Brazil, Italy, Spain: teams which combine sublime technical skill with world class tactical awareness…see Barcelona humiliate the kick and run style of Manure…
Are you people that clueless???
And, please please please fire Bob Bradley…please, pretty please!!!
I’m not saying we have better players at the moment than Mexico, BUT if you look back at past US teams, I think you would be hard pressed to find a team that has this many players playing at a high level in europe and that yes, are contributing for their teams there. THAT’s Matt’s point, I mean let’s look at the starting lineup for the 2007 gold cup:
Tim Howard;16-Jonathan Spector 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra 13-Jonathan Bornstein 8-Clint Dempsey (20-Taylor Twellman, 69′) 5-Benny Feilhaber, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (19-Ricardo Clark, 46), 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 11-Brian Ching, 10-Landon Donovan.
Gooch is nothing compared to the 2007 version, but besides that when you look at that lineup and compare it to the one we have now, there’s no way you can convince me that we shouldn’t AT LEAST be as good as that team was!
JoshD, Ream didn’t have the best game, granted. However, how will a player get caps if he doesn’t play? Let’s face it, any defender would’ve looked poor with our foward line and the invisible midfield against Panama. If the US can’r beat a team like Panama on home soil — there’s a bigger fish to fry.
Ream is an example of one of the few forward-looking things Bradley has done as coach of this team. note: Bob Bradley is the fish.
I bet you probably think we were playing mexico too don’t you? No to racism
Wrong. Tim Howard is our best player.
I blame the USSF. Clearly we had too much confidence and energy going into this tournament. Setting up an embarrassment against Spain 3 days before the tournament starts? For SHAME. We should’ve got blown out by Argentina the day before, and Brazil the day after. That way, we TRULY would’ve been ready for this tournament.
Why would we congratulate the Panamanian people for their team’s great performance? That doesn’t make sense. Be happy for them, sure, as I am. I have a Panamanian buddy and he’s ecstatic today (and won’t stop rubbing it in my face.) But when we play well and beat a team we shouldn’t, who congratulates the American people? We should be congratulating the team on the flawless execution of a great game plan.
Serious question, not trolling. How does one fire Gulati? I mean, which USSF body has that authority?
I don’t know what sport you watch, but the vast majority of top level teams always play four across the back, regardless of the number of forwards the other team plays… I’m looking forward to the day Bob Bradley goes and Michael Bradley continues to play. He doesn’t get enough credit. He was the only player who would pick up the ball in the defensive or middle thirds and play passes forward. People get these hate blinders on and refuse to see anything positive about him.
Wait what is the US record against Panama? So, not only shouldn’t a loss to Panama happen, the record even shows it barely ever happens. Also, many people have acknowledged that we were outplayed by Panama tonight, so relax with the “sportsmanship” claim, which is absurd considering this is a website to discuss US soccer and we are fans, not players. We are here to discuss the US, not Panama. I’m sure there are plently of thoer websites where one can sing the praises of Panama. Even so, Congrats to Panama, now go troll somewhere else.
Absolutely on the dive comment! Reason #23 why Bob must go is that he seems to think it’s OK for his players to dive.
I would rather see the US lose with honor than dive, ever, period.
I know Simon Borg disagrees, but he can go back to Malta.
Well said.
We got outplayed, outcoached and outscored.
Congratulations to Panama. They were the better team.
Amen, now we’re getting some thoughtful analysis in here. Respect the opponent, bring your A-game. That didn’t happen and Panama made them pay.
I’m so glad you said it Ron because coming from me, with a hispanic name, might be too much for other hispanic phobes on here to understand. This team does not represent the quality of players who can throw on the US national team shirt. Mix it up, use everyone at your disposal and get a result.
the castillo comment was said in jest. as you can tell from my handle, i too watch a lot of ligue 1, so i would tend to think that you saw boca play a few times, and it wasnt always that good. he looked like the 2nd worst lb in ligue 1 to me, but thats just me.
as for bradley fielding the best team, if that is how he evaluates talent that his a$$ should be fired. the cb choices were terrible, and the formation just doesnt work for this talent. not to metnion MB cant deciced whether he is a DMF or an AMF, but he is rarley box to box dominant outside of playing the little sisters of the poor and aruba.
lastly, i would take 5 MLS outside backs over tim ream playing in the middle. that means sliding boca inside which i have no problem with at all.
not in any specific order…HEATH PEARCE, kevin alston, sean franklin, james riley…kids liek soares, anibaba, kitchen. and my fav anthony wallace.
yes some of these guys play on the right and im not a big fan of moving Dolo’, but if you have to do it. well, a coach with balls does it.
Is this your solution to creating a world-class team? Blaming the ref?
+1. Ream and Agudelo need to play a few more friendly games before they’re placed into starters. I know the USMNT team has other issues but Ream’s and Agudelo’s inexperience is killing us right now. IF we make it to the finals either Mexico or costa rica will have the two for lunch.
All I’ve seen so far are complaints, fairytale claims about how the US shouldn’t lose to a team like Panama and exaggerations about how great US players are doing overseas.
What I haven’t seen is a congratulations to Panama and their people for playing a solid game and clearly being the better team.
Is this what you boys consider to be sportsmanship?
Agree that Gulati is the one who needs to go. Get Klinsmann that job and let him hire the coach.
I have a serious question too. Lots of people above were upset about how we are trying to hard to do a Barcelona style buildup through the midfield. You have complained that we never try to build from the middle. What exactly are we doing?
It makes no sense to compare games against mutual opponents. I suspect that yesterday’s win was one of the greatest moments in the history of their team. They played a great game. Against Guadaloupe, not so much.
BBradley is a symptom not the disease. The problem is Sunil Gulati. He looked like a modern day Neville Chamberlain when asked why we didn’t stand with the FA against FIFA corruption and is a debaser of our country’s core values. He drove off Klinsmann when he was begging for the job. He presides over an ancien regime that regales in “how far we have come” rather “than how far we have to go”.
I actually agree with a lot of what you say. Doesn’t make today feel any better though…
I don’t think you really follow soccer. Better pedigree than Mexico? Do you get Fox Soccer Channel or Gol TV? With the exception of Dempsey and Howard, both of whom I have great admiration for, who else is consistently doing big things in Europe.
The biggest challenge the US has is glory-hunting fans with no real knowledge of the game, or its players.
Does anyone have a good read on the Jones/MBradley on field relationship. Commentators seemed to put blame on Jones for poor play but I am not so sure that Bradley freelanced a little off the game plan and made Jones look bad.
You meant to say, “…hitting a free kick badly,” right?
I knew we were going to lose when I saw that Count dracula from Mexico was going to ref the game…
Why was this a team you “should not be losing to”? Panama has good players overseas. They showed more resilience than the US players. My feeling is US fans want a World Cup trophy on a silver platter and have no idea what it takes to be a real fan of the game.
Don’t you remember what SAF said about rotating coaches? It’s not a solution. I’m sure Bob Bradley is sitting at home figuring out what he did wrong.
Being at the game does not compare to close up replay on the Ream penalty. Clearly a penalty. The problem with USMNT fans is they never give credit when credit is due. You lost, fair and square. Panama was the better team. Until you respect the competition, you will continue to hand in mediocre performances.
Uh-huh, I feel a hanging coming on… Hide the torches and pitchforks!
What about you first pick of Castillo? What’s his pedigree or his travk record have watched him play? And for the record as a huge fan of olpique marseille I watch a lot of Ligue 1. It is a fast and technical league. I do not deny that Boca’s speed was exposed yesterday, but you still can’t name a stronger person in the pool right now. Lichaj might turn into a quality LB in time, but that doesn’t help us now. But that said, players get beat and teams lose. It doesn’t mean the players are washed up or that the coach is inept. Bradley fielded what he thought was his best team and they lost. What is the big deal?
It’s time we find a Coach or Technical Advisor from Latin America, Spain or Holland who understands how to teach the game. We have the athletes but not the technical ability. When the US has the ball the other Team collapses and cut off the passing lanes because of poor spacing and support. The same thing happens when we are on defense. The players do not pressure the ball or cut off the lanes.
Everybody sucked tonight. Pick your goat and point a finger, and they bore some responsibility.
Jermaine Jones looked like the mad hacker out there, committing ugly fouls left and right. The irony is he actually wasn’t guilty of the one he was booked for.
Baby Bradley was a turnover machine, and had a key miss from inside the 18 that should have been in the back of the net.
Landon Donovan was invisible, and mis-hit a volley into the ground from about four yards he should have buried.
Wondoloski – don’t get me started. A tap-in miss from two yards out?
Cherundolo boomed bad crosses in all night.
Ream was getting toasted all night, and that foul was inexcusable.
Agudelo and Altidore did exactly zip, reminding us once again that the USA has nothing resembling a quality International forward.
It goes on and on. Add to that: complacency. The team looked flat and complacent all night. I’ve never been a big Fire Bob advocate, but I think this is the problem with repeating with the same coach for the next cycle on the International level. Making Team USA should be the capstone of a player’s career, something you have to struggle and strive for…these guys just seem…comfortable, something they should never be.
We will be embarrassed by Mexico. Javier wll pick us apart like a school team. My son and I had planned our road trip to go, but I think it isn’t worth missing work for. What’s the point?
certainly a great statement…
The team selection and level of play was unacceptable. If the US team are to move forward in World rankings they must invest in an experienced international manager. Mark Hughes is available.
Meanwhile I can pick the next team and only 3 of the players last night would be on the sheet.
We deserve better, and now, before we fall back into the wilderness. This would not be tolerated in other football loving countries, the press would be out for blood. Time to actually challenge the system and demand better. We have come so far, and we can go further, but not with this set up.
The keeper’s body definitely got Bedoya’s foot. Watch the slo mo replay and you can see Bedoya’s foot get rolled up on by the keeper’s body. Bad call from Eddie Munster, like many he made. He did let a lot go which is usually good against a Central American team, but he picked the wrong spots to play on and when to make calls on too many plays.
No excuse for the rest of US performance though.