By FRANCO PANIZO
U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann scheduled the friendly in Panama to experience what a road game in CONCACAF was like, and he got just what he wanted.
Four days after beating Venezuela, the United States defeated Panama, 1-0, on Wednesday night in a game that felt much like a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier on the road. The Americans won the game at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City courtesy of an early Graham Zusi goal and despite being down a man after centerback Geoff Cameron was questionably sent off in the second half.
Playing in his second match for the U.S. team, Zusi scored the winner in the eighth minute when a cross from Zach Loyd bounced off the leg of Teal Bunbury and into the midfielder's path. Zusi stayed composed in front of goal, slotting it past goalkeeper Luis Mejia.
The hosts did have their opportunities to equalize throughout, but a combination of strong saves from starting goalkeeper Nick Rimando and a failure to finish by Blas Perez saw the Americans win a third consecutive game.
Perez was the one who failed to convert on a pair of clear chances in the latter parts of the second half. The recently-acquired FC Dallas striker headed off the mark in the 77th minute and hooked a shot wide left from six yards out after a collision in the box nine minutes later.
Aside from those opportunities, the Americans had other hiccups defensively in the 4-4-2 formation Klinsmann chose over the 4-2-3-1 he used versus Venezuela.
No mistake was more costly than when a ball played over the top in the 52nd minute sprung Perez free on goal. Cameron raced to deny the Panamanian forward a shot on goal, but he was deemed to have denied Perez a goal-scoring chance when Perez fell to the ground following Cameron's challenge, resuling in his sending off.
The ensuing free kick, which was taken by Marcos Sanchez just outisde the Americans' penalty area, failed to go on frame as it hit off a Panamanian player and out of bounds.
The first half also saw the Panamanians waste good looks, as Rimando denied everything that came his way before being replaced by Sean Johnson at halftime in a substitution that appeared to have been made to give the Chicago Fire goalkeeper experience.
Even with all of its youth and inexperience, the United States killed off the game by maintaining possession in stretches in the second half. Klinsmann made a flurry of defensive-minded substitutions as he looked for his fourth win as U.S. coach, and they paid off as Zusi's first international goal stood as the winner.
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What do you think of the United States' 1-0 win over Panama? Who impressed/disappointed you? Which players do you consider the biggest winners from these last two friendlies?
Share your thoughts below.
Although Altidore’s first touch coming back for those balls has gotten better this last year, Bunnbury reminds me of having the same issues. Don’t know if it’s just playing in these high pressure games or the speed of it all, but his control has been awful these
last two matches. He didn’t look ready for the role he was given.
I have never been a big fan of Clark/Jones, Clark/Edu or Clark/Bradley. If your going to play Clark then use him late in a game to shut things down and maybe he gets on the end of something like last game. Instead of Clark I thought we should have put Benny back in again. Seems like we had nobody to pull the strings and get the ball through or out to the wings.
No goals allowed vs. Panama after going down to 10…the d was good again
DLG has been the most consistaent player over the 2 games. Your ratings re backwards.
What? Rimando and De La Garza were the best players for the US….
eurocunt
Shea is nowhere close to USMNT minutes? He’s been one of the most impressive players in just about every game Klinsmann’s coached. He didn’t look as good recently, but he’s young and hasn’t had an offseason. He’s just tired
Wondolowski has been a tease and will continue to be a tease. He does well enough against low quality, he’s smart enough to beat them with good positioning. His positioning isn’t good enough against quality teams though. He’s just a step behind where he needs to be for anything but MLS and CONCACAF minnows. Along with his age I don’t understand him getting another call until he proves otherwise, or at least until we cycle through the more worthy names.
If we’re talking young strikers how about the fact that I don’t remember the last time I saw a young USA striker look as comfortable with his back to goal as Sapong did in holding out the end of that game. I’d rather see more of Sapong than more of Bunbury or Wondolowski.
i actually thought that was a hell of a play by Cameron. after Perez was in on goal Cameron showed his speed to catch up to him in a split-second to foul before he got into the box. had it been Boca or Gooch or Goodson they wouldn’t have caught him before he got into the box, it would’ve been a penalty or a goal. Cameron helped save the shutout.
Oh, and I don’t agree with those praising Rimando at all. He made a couple of spectacular saves, and also made some pretty boneheaded plays that nearly cost us. His passing out of the back with De La Garza was a disaster waiting to happen, and his adventure out of the box also deserved to be punished. Not good.
I know we’re trying to figure things out and I know this was a US B team with guys who most likely won’t see a minute if we qualify for 2014 BUT I’m just not seeing any resemblance of high quality entertaining soccer. These games have been really boring and tough to watch.
So glad I defended Zusi against all the naysayers!
What I took from these two games is Shea and Teal are nowhere close to USMNT minutes. Shea was sick but I don’t know what was the excuse for Teal’s terrible game. Loyd is usually a solid player but in the Panama game it showed his shortcomings.
The players that I think deserve a second look are CJ Sapong and Cameron, they both show a lot of promise for the future.
*****: Rimando, Sapong
****: Wondolowski, Johnson
***: Jones, Zusi, Cameron, Parkhurst, Pearce
**: Larentowicz, Parke, Evans, Shea
*: Loyd, De LaGarza
0: Clark, Bunbury
Overall between the two games:
Already on A team roster: Jones, Shea, Hamid
Yes give them a shot: Cameron, Parkhurst, Feilhaber, Wondolowski, Sapong, Rimando, Johnson
Showed enough potential to be called back in the future maybe: Loyd, Zusi
Bye bye for at least a year, maybe forever: Larentowicz, Clark, Parke, Evans, De LaGarza, Bunbury
Hold your applause, Jones got a yellow in the 42′
Keep that username, it will come in handy.
Or we can place this game at the top of the mountain of “Eric Wynalda is an idiot” evidence.
Results matter when they matter (World Cup, etc.), the rest of the time what matters is improving your ability to get positive results.
nice anonymous post, troll
Congratulations to Jones for not getting a yellow this game. How long has it been since he has had a game without a card?
this was a load of crap team, absolutely nothing close to soccer being displayed short of Jones and Rimando. the rest were total garbage. Find all the Germans you can and bring them in now.
I think Klinnsman wanted to see some B players gut it out. Sure, not all of them will be A players down the road but he was testing those who think they are A players. Would they show up tonight?
Can you handle the pressure and bring home the result?
I don’t think anyone definitively staked their claim to say they were an up and comer though I did like Sapong.
And Rimando was brilliant in his saves but we’re so deep at GK currently anyway..
OK. well, I don’t blame th eplayers for gutting one out like that, no way
please exlain to me the Bunbury play on this team to start…at home or away? doesn’t fit. he would be good to sub later, his speed and prwess more in tune to those late game open spaces
it’s not Teal’s fault he’s played there.
NO I never say klismann was let down but really, really tell me that this player were good. I don’t take away the Heart the player show with one man down but if you know that was a bad football show that they playing.
As GSScasual said… and I agree with him 100%
“Such an utterly disgusting display of football. millions of fouls, horrible passing, moves that did not work AT ALL… I seriously have seen u-7 rec games that had more fluidity. And let me tell you, im very rarely critical. pyrrhic victory.”
Mind-blowing… the defense was in shambles long before it went down to 10 men. Lucky for them Panama had no idea how to score goals, and Rimando came up with some nice saves. I really wonder what game people are watching sometimes…
Parke, Bunbury, Lloyd, Johnson, Bunbury, Clark are players that really shouldnt be anywhere near the USNT atm. They are like D squad atm if you ask me. They are decent MLS level players. A “C” squad should have atleast had all of the best from MLS. Doesnt matter, atleast we can beat Venezuela & Panama with a “C” squad.
Are you implying Klinsmann was let down by the players in this one?
The players heart and grit overcame all somehow anyway, in Panama, a man down, Coach’s plays and all, etc.
The Players get that credit in my eyes, classic grit form our guys
who told who what?
Someone ask Eric Wynalda how we’re supposed to fell about this game…..
Klinsi got the result right? That’s what counts, right?
So, we shouldn’t worry that the defense was horrifying, and the offense wasn’t much better?
I would call this the C squad. not the B squad.
Exactly which was to be expected playing in Panama. Of course if wasn’t pretty but it never is in the these locations. A win is a win….Also, the depth chart question is a little clearer of who has the mental fortitude going forward.
This game was most important for Klinsi. He got a win on the road in CONCACAF with the B squad. With (at most) 2 starters from the A team playing, this game wasn’t very important. Still want to see how the full nats line up. Please no beckerman.
dont you mean on to italy?
The whole defense except for De La Garza was awful. Teal was nowhere, lost and shea look tired whole team was a 5 rate only Jones and was hustling all over. NO NO NO Klismann have to really think hard about this MLS player or maybe is he way of saying I TOLD YOU SO but the Sub were fair and they did a decent job
I’ve never posted that, so there 😉
more to the point, why does Coach keep playing him there? Bunbury is great on the counter, many skills for that…but for how Coach says we are trying to play? interesting choice to insist on playing Bunbury there, considering the skill set Bunbury possesses, one that any follower of his game knows.
still hope Bunbury does well, tough role for him though imo. I’m sure someone can explain it though
I attended the match tonight (we live in Panama). Panama’s best minutes were the last 20 minutes of the first half – USA weathered the storm then and were happy when the whistle blew. Panama failed mostly at their chance for the draw in the second half while up a man – credit due to the US bunch for hunkering down, wasting clock time, and making a couple good substitutions. Rimaldo clearly MOTM from the grandstand perspective although J Jones did a good job as well.
Probably 10,000 or more rabid fans in Red, beer was cheap and plentiful, horns and drums were loud, and the US did what they had to do in a hostile environment to take the 3 points and get out of there without injuries. I think in general the US coaching game plan was solid and position players did what they needed to do to keep Panama from scoring. Lots of US fouls and cards were the evidence of a physical, defensive clash. Onto the Qualifying cycle!
Definitely hope we can put aside the Zusi smack-down from the last match. The USMNT can keep Sapong and Zusi, but Bunbury seems oddly under-cooked the last few matches. Otherwise, SKC players are winning.
Agudelo would have a better touch than Bunbury blindfolded and with wooden shoes on. It’s not even a contest between the 2.
Its tough to play a high line defense as the offside trap can fudge up badly. Also, the Midfield needs to put pressure on the opposing players before they can find forwards and launch the long ball over the top of the defense. Not dealing with that and all those turnovers from Jones and Clark put defense in awkward situations
every poster on here seems to think he is our only answer and say he is better than agudelo at every turn… yet, he did not score in his debut or against argentina.
Such an utterly disgusting display of football. millions of fouls, horrible passing, moves that did not work AT ALL… I seriously have seen u-7 rec games that had more fluidity. And let me tell you, im very rarely critical. pyrrhic victory.
Loyd was all over the place, except in the places he was supposed to be in.
Had this been a qualifier, this is a tremendous result, and I think that Klinsmann was trying to simulate this.
Well the team has conceded only 1 goal in 3 games I believe, that’s quite the defensive stand. 3 straight wins with more possession than we’ve ever seen. Beat a team in Europe for the first time in a half a decade and beat a South American team for the first time in 14 attempts.
It’s moving in the right direction. Obviously in matches like this where some players don’t belong there can be stretches that make you cringe, but overall the change is evident.
I am not sure what team bunbury was actually playing for tonight. He gave the ball away and created more scoring chances for Panama than USA.
Feel bad for Wondo…he deserves a goal.
Jones was strong…i love the way he rides through fouls with the ball..surprised panama and the ref on a few occasions.
Overall a win that somehow felt like a loss.
I don’t have ESPN3 or Galavision so I didn’t see the match; I know the USMNT has one its first two games of 2012, which is fantastic, but I’m curious how the team is playing under Klinsmann compared to the years under Bradley. I believe the team will play better over the long term but there is a learning curve that the players have the go through and this may take some time. I’m curious what others think…
I thought the CMs were playimg very selfishly and trying too hard to make the big play instead of the smart one to let someone else make the big play, esp in the first half. Time and again, Clark and JJ would take a crazy shot, hold the ball too long, attempt an impossible route 1 longball, or try to take on defenders with Shea and Zusi wide open on the wings. This completely disrupted the entire rhythm of the team, there was no possession and many awful turnovers leading to dangerous opportunities for Panama. Many guys on this team seemed to feel like this was their chance to make their mark and tried to do too much.
How? Parkhurst was the questionable centre back if you are to say either one was. Cameron saved us quite a few times & parkhurst seemed to face trouble with the speed of Panama tonight by letting runners through. If you are referring to the red, it was unlucky & you shouldnt blatantly say he was bad bc of that.
I agree on the premise that they didn’t allow a goal, but the center back pair always seemed to be a step slow and the distribution by the wing backs was unacceptably bad
Fun fact for everyone that I stole from the other page…
The head official was Mexican and the linesmen were Panamanian. How is that even allowed? They made so many horrid call that I just gave up complaining at home and laughed.
Heres a few things I’d like to mention…
Bunbury & Lloyd were awful. They have potential and they will atleast be very good MLS players in the future but for right now they are just decent MLS players that really dont deserve to be looked at on the national team yet. Neither had exceptional seasons last year especially looking at their potential. Stop calling for them until they have a real break out season which I do eventually expect.
The man of the match was Rimando for me who I believe should not be put in the dark by JK just to develop Hamid. Last thing, the red was harsh & really was just a case of Cameron putting his body between the man & the ball. Probably a foul but a red when he wasnt even the last man & had a poor touch aswell? I didnt understand that, but in the end we still get the win.
except Cameron…
AJ and the defense were sturdy once again.