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Zusi goal helps USA win in Panama

USA Panama (AP)

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.

Comments

  1. Nah. Clark wasn’t bad, but he shouldn’t have started over Feilhaber. Klinsmann was probably rewarding his effort in the Venezuela game, and Cameron’s red closed the door on any opportunity to get Benny in.

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  2. Don’t quote me, but reds only have bearing within the official competition in which they’re issued. E.g., if Donovan got a red against Spain prior to last year’s Gold Cup, he would still have been able to play in the first game.

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  3. Consistent against the U.S. you mean.

    Four cards to one side, none to the other? Unlikely. The U.S. should have had 2 yellows. AJ’s was undeniable, but strategic. As was Cameron’s, which should have been yellow. Reds have no place in friendlies unless there is malicious intent.

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  4. It was a red for one reason. CONCACAF refs are garbage.

    Perez takes a bad first touch and no longer has full control of the ball, so he cuts in front of Cameron and lets himself get run over. When Perez changes his intent from “score at all costs” to “draw a foul,” the foul changes from a red to a yellow.

    Plus, it’s a friendly, so you don’t give reds unless somebody does something unsportsmanlike. Garbage decision.

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  5. it could be Sapong, but Klinnsman chose not to explore that option very much in these 2 games, went hard with Bunbury instead, and the stifled attacks of the US offense were self perpetuated.

    the continued use of Bunbury in that role is baffling at best, and a shot in the foot on purpose at least

    horrible decision, not Bunbury’s fault to be misutilized

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  6. AJ was probably the best defender on the night, but Cameron was not bad. That was a poorly issued red from a horribly unbalanced referee. Nevertheless, at least Cameron learned his lesson (to expect that kind of call to go against him every time) in a friendly rather than WCQ. Even though he was sent off, he’s probably directly responsible for the US leaving with a W instead of a draw. Plus, Jeff parke owes his thanks for earning his first cap!

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  7. Lloyd had a good season this last compared to the previous, but I would say semi break out is a good word for it I guess. Sure he played like every game for FCD, but was a little inconsistant at times & compared to where I see him being he certainly didnt break out too much. You’re right, avoiding calling him is a little hard to see in this situation but I wasnt talking about that necesarily. That was more of a comment geared towards people who want to see Lloyd in a A-B team setup right now. He simply isnt that good yet. DeLaGarza as I am sure you all saw is a much more advanced defender at this time. I’d also make an argument that Franklin & Dunivant are 2 players that are better at this moment in time. I’d say calling Lloyd over Franklin was a bit odd if you ask me.

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  8. 70+ posts and no one wants to call out Jermaine Jones? Dude was a turnover machine last night. Shea looked awful too, and I’m a big Shea fan. Rimando made a bunch of great saves but made numerous mental mistakes that forced him to make a lot of saves. Defense weak – only De La Garza played consistently. Midfield atrocious except for maybe Zusi. Wondo the only guy who looked like he could cause some trouble.

    Overall this looked like a team that has hardly played together, and maybe it should stay that way. I’d love to see the stat on completed passes and turnovers – looked like my son’s u-11 team. Not pretty.

    Rumor is we’ve got a bunch of other guys to play the Italians next month? Let’s hope so.

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  9. On the red card. Cameron clipped the player’s trailing leg and if you do that when the player is running flat out, he will fall. That is a trip, no matter if he moved across in front of Cameron or Cameron moved across him (you can argue that it might not have been intentional, but a trip it was.) The ball was close, the player was going toward goal and there were no other players between the player and the goal (even or close is not enough).

    Bottom line, it was an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and it was the correct call.

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  10. +1

    interesting that Sapong got such little PT considering his skill set in both games. He fits what Klinnsman wants to well, seems to me, for the reasons you just so nicely articulated above

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  11. Uhm….. If you look at goals per minutes played he actually did not have a bad rate at Houston at all, he just didn’t get very many minutes

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  12. Ugly game. It seemed the US just could not posses the ball at all. Were they just tired, or was it the humidity, or just a lack of talent? US was lucky to win. Rimando was fantastic. It felt like every touch Bunbury had when out ten feet infront of him.

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  13. Game was a snooze fest, and I actually did fall asleep for part of the game. And if this game was played to simulate the difficulty of qualifying, why’d they choose Panama in that enormous stadium with a track. The fans were a country mile off the field, so while they may have dealt with issues off the field, on the field was a different story. They should have scheduled Costa Rica, Guatmela or Honduras where the fans are right on top of the field and just going bonkers.

    Other than that, I’m not going to take a ton out of these games. Cameron deserves more consideration, but other than that, of the fringe guys, not a lot to be learned in my opinion.

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  14. I left out Jones. Jones was either anonymous or fouling people, but he’s obviously in the mix for the final 23/ 18/ 11.

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  15. I’m not a big fan of Parkhurst because he’s one of those limited athleticism positioning players who tends to get overwhelmed against opposition of high quality or speed. Played with a guy like that in college and it was like he rarely did anything I couldn’t have done myself, and couldn’t mop up for any mistakes I did make. On the red card he’s yards behind the play. And that wasn’t the only time.

    I just think some credit is due for the team hanging together and finishing off Panama with a shutout. I’d just say the keepers and the team effort deserves it more than the defenders in particular.

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  16. And yet team is winning and opponents so far haven’t scored much on Klinsmann-coached teams.

    So far then evidence is USMNT has the players to play the high line and press.

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  17. The result is great and the team actually played very well against Venezuela, but they were flat out dominated last night. I rated the good scoring opportunities as 6 to 1 in favor of Panama. Guys were totally rattled by the situation, not making smart passes and trying to do too much. We desperately needed a couple cool heads in the CM to calm things down and make proper distribution. JJ and Ricardo missed so many wide open runners that I wanted to throw something at the tv. Credit to the team for holding the lead a man down, in a tough environment, against a tough team, and blatantly one-sided officiating, but the score could have easily been 3-1 or 4-1 Panama with some decent finishing or a couple unfavorable bounces of the ball.

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  18. Yes, it was a fairly weak group of players for the US and they managed a win. Panama was unlucky to have not scored, Rimando’s adventurism could easily have cost a goal and the central backs were too slow to safely push up so high. Klinsmann was right to have used 2 defensive mids in this game.
    I recall only 1 instance except for the goal when the US threatened and that was the long range shot by Jones, saved by the keeper who then made a great recovery to turn away Wondo’s header attempt.
    So sure call it a gritty win if you want, but it did include a lot of good luck.

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  19. There was nothing overly positive to take out of this game, except they held on for a win and showed some decent ability to hold possesion in the second half.

    The forwards were horrible. Complete innability to hold the ball up…when TB wasnt outright turning the ball over.

    The wings were completely unimaginative and did not deliver any real dangerous balls into the box.

    CM’s were probably best players on the pitch, but that is not saying a ton. They also played way too flat and did not pressure the opposing distribution.

    Def was shaky. I like Parkhurst and cameron but they did not have their best showings. The Fullbacks were nothing special AJ shows no ability to get forward and Llyod was awful.

    I would have much rather seen a diamond in the midfield with Jones in the DCM and Fielhaber in attacking mid role….maybe we would have seen some creativity from him springing the wide players, because lord knows the forwards were non-existant.

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  20. Most US players have spent time in MLS. In their time there, only Dempsey, Donavon, McBride and who? have done better than Wondolowski. Sure some guys left the MLS early in their careers (Altidore, maybe Cooper) so an apples-to-apples comparison with Wondo is not possible, and others are still young and are arguably better than Wondo was at their age (Agudelo, Sappong, Bunbury), but that does not make them better than Wondo, just players with more potential (Eddie Johnsom F. Adu. are great examples of players with potential who have yet to pan out.)

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  21. Before we went down to 10 Panama’s forwards had gotten behind our D multiple times. Would have to go back and replay the match to give a fair assessment but on first glance it looked like Parkhurst was having a tough time keeping up with the speed and physicality of the strikers.

    Parkhurst also leaves you exposed in the air. Strange seeing an American defense not win almost every single header.

    Good player, just limited.

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  22. Looking at it as objectively as I can: There were a few positives to take from last night but overall that was a bad showing (even giving the team wiggle room for being down to 10 men, they weren’t playing well before that).

    Panama missed some clear chances and were able to penetrate and get behind the D multiple times.

    The offense was not great either. No one played particularly well, keepers aside.

    Too harsh of an assessment maybe considering we were on the road, down to 10 men, and this is an inexperienced team, but I really felt it was a performance with a lot of holes.

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  23. Totally agree.

    Then there are people who say,”But Dempsey’s not a forward”.

    I got news for them, he’s the best forward we’ve got!

    Of course, I’ve got no problem with Altidore all the way up top and Dempsey right behind.

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  24. While I’m at it, even though Cameron is athletic and physical and doesn’t seem the sort to get burned on a high line, there was something of a resemblance between the Berbatov AS goal at his expense and this play where he earned the red. He tends to go to sleep and let players sneak in behind, and the only substantial difference between the plays is he took his man out the second time.

    Not that this is necessarily an excluding condition because defense is just after forward in terms of places where one could make their mark right now just by playing fairly well.

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  25. If anything, I can’t believe people aren’t clamoring for Parkhurst’s head.

    You can’t just get caught ball watching on the long ball. It’s one thing if you’re trying to take a forward out of the play by cutting off his run, but Parkhurst is just sitting there letting the ball catch a good bounce on him.

    I didn’t watch the match, so I can’t say much.

    But that defensive play, for me, was inexcusable.

    Then he lets Cameron clean up his mess for him!

    There’s a time for composure, and there’s a time to show responsibility.

    To me it actually looked like a good defensive play on the part of Cameron.

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  26. Not a lot different, another January camp and playing a friendly on a non-FIFA date means neither team is really at its best. I thought Venezuela was particularly poor. I felt that the US did not do very well against Panama for long stretches and were very fortunate that Panama did not score on one or more of the occasions they got behind the US defense.

    Klinsmann used 2 defensive mids in both games (Jones and Clark or Laurentowitz), much like Bradley did. (This might say more about the present crop of US players than it does about either Bradley or Klinsmann, since I think both coaches are smart enough to know that choosing a formation that fits your players is more likely to achieve success than picking a formation and forcing players into spots they are not well-suited to.)

    There were some stretches when the US held the ball fairly well, but mostly that possession ended with a turnover rather than a chance on goal.

    The goal was the result of a good ball in by Loyd, hitting Bunbury who seemed to know little about it and falling to Zusi who met the ball, but nearly lifted it either into the goal keeper or over the net, but was fortunate that the ball stayed just low enough.

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  27. No, once again Jones played 90 minutes and got a yellow card. At least this time it was unlikely to have been a red by any referee.

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  28. Gotta agree. Wondo is the highest scoring MLS attacker and is probably the best on the January roster. But I do not think he is the answer! Dempsey is the only one who has demonstrated the ability to play forward and score goals at a high level, Donavon seems to be better when he can run at defenders from a deeper position and when he is put up top he does not do as well.

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  29. Random complaint but any reason we stopped booming goal kicks downfield? I know Timmy’s not in town but it can be hard working the ball upfield pass by pass and not taking the freebie of hoofing the ball past half field and either starting the attack on their end or at least putting the ball on their end struck me as tactically goofy.

    I understand kicking/throwing it short to slow down a game, or switching fields to start a break, or the like, but I felt like we were handing away a bit tactically with the short passes and tosses to backs on goal kicks and keeper distributions.

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  30. He was hurt…I can’t remember where I saw it but remember reading he was subbed at 42′ with an ‘knock.’ He did do well getting forward, left back isn’t his natural spot. He sent in the cross that led to the goal though.

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  31. Rimando probably made a good case for a 2/3 slot for GK. I think he’s underrated, I might very well prefer him to Perkins/ Guzan/ etc.

    But did he get hurt?

    Of the rest, Cameron probably hurt his cause some, and Shea is not quite staking his claim despite getting lots of chances. Needs to be more of a motor guy who is less wasteful on offense and works harder on defense. But maybe he’s in an Early Dempsey stage and just needs time.

    The rest of the bunch are probably flushed except someone will get called back to keep fighting for F because we have to staff there somehow. But then let’s be real Camp Cupcake is really just to find an overlooked player or two.

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  32. Have to disagree on several levels. First, Klinsmann is attempting to train USMNT’s to play a higher line and compress the field. Since Jones and Clark did not work well together to pressure it put Cameron and Parkhurst under greater pressure. Cameron did not deserve the card. The attacker took a poor touch and bundled into him. Camerons recovery run was straight back, not into the attacker.

    Burnbury’s problem was Wondoloski…they don’t play well together. I would much rather have seen Burnbury and Sapong together.

    Nick Rimando scares me. He makes swashbuckling saves but doesn’t lend confidence to the team.

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  33. We went basically 441 after Cameron.

    And before Cameron I felt like Panama was exposing the zonal approach of the back 4, including, dare I say it, the limits of the value of Parkhurstian positioning. It was starting to remind me of the Gold Cup group game….I’d like to see more pure marking.

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  34. I’d gripe about the coaching ……. except “scoreboard.” I don’t understand some of his selections, or the differing formations, and I think a few GK plays go different and we lose this one. But then I remind myself we won the game.

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  35. That’s just Wondo. He works hard, gets in spots, and can hit a shot. But for the Dynamo and US he can’t score to save his life. Worth pointing out SJ is a pretty iffy team and someone has to score there.

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  36. Well, I take your point, guys. That is one way of looking at it–there was no physical hostility from the fans. But the Panamanian players were battering the US guys with impunity, I mean DeLaGarza (who I think was convincing enough to get called up for Italy next month) not only gets smacked hard in the face by a Panama player, but also gets a rewarded with a yellow card to go along with the purple bruise on his face. The field is surrounded by security people with attack dogs. And the American writing up above on this board says he was there and it was a hostile situation, even if psychologically. Some teams would have folded, but the US guys handled it all well and showed real grit and determination, which often is the key ingredient for winning the big games. I think they should be really proud of a tough win in a — I’m gonna say it again — extremely hostile situation.

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  37. Yeah, and his was straight from his cookbook, tackles hard on the ball and then punctuates it scissoring the guy to the ground. You’d think by now he’d get people might be watching him, including what happens after the play’s over.

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  38. Inasmuch as it was a friendly, and part of the concept was apparently experiencing Panamanian road hostility, I felt like it was a useful exercise in exposing the team/coach to a somewhat unfriendly CONCACAF road game. There will be bad refs in qualifying and we need to know how to deal with it. My only concern would be more practical, ie, what Cameron’s red means in terms of suspension. I felt like it was merely a yellow because he tried to play the ball and had caught up with the guy, but it wasn’t unprecedented to call a tackle from behind on the breakaway attacker a red.

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  39. Bunbury underwhelmed, but so does most of the forward pool, which is the bigger problem. The reason so many blah players get PT is no one short of Donovan and Dempsey (and maybe Jozy some nights) have stepped up. And there’s a fair argument whether those two should be wings instead, but you can’t play them both places.

    Ever since McBride retired it’s a sore spot and if anyone ever stepped up and started dominating they could seize the position easily, because the list of Buddle/ EJ/ Bunbury/ Sapong/ etc. is just way too littered with sloppy, MLS-quality attackers.

    I think it would really help if Agudelo, Shea, Holden, or some of the other wingers got in form/healthy and we could move Landon and Dempsey up top, so we could get a little finishing and quality up top.

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