USMNT hits a pothole in Panama City, suffering a deflating 1-0 loss

News from Panama / Tuesday, October 12th, 2021
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The path to a World Cup berth from the Concacaf region is never a simple, seamless exercise. There are messy matches on foreign land and occasional slips at home.

Clinching a place in soccer’s quadrennial spectacle takes dozens of players and most, if not all, of the qualifying calendar. Hopes can rise and fall with each match.

Case in point: the U.S. men’s national team over the past 72 hours.

After performing with panache and confidence in a home win Thursday, the Americans were sloppy and subdued in a 1-0 defeat to Panama on Sunday at Estadio Rommel Fernández.

“It was clear we didn’t have our best stuff,” Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We were poor.”

“It wasn’t a good performance by all of us,” midfielder Kellyn Acosta said.

“There is no question we’re going to look back at this and be frustrated,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “The intensity wasn’t there. … In Concacaf qualifying, in any qualifying, in any soccer game, you have to earn the right to play.”

With a chance to create separation in an eight-nation competition that will send three teams to Qatar next year, the United States fell out of first place and back into the thick of things ahead of Wednesday’s match against Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio.

Through five of 14 games per team, Mexico (3-0-2) leads with 11 points, followed by the United States and Panama (2-1-2 apiece) with eight, though the Americans are ahead on the goal-differential tiebreaker. Canada (1-0-4), Costa Rica (1-1-3) and El Salvador (1-2-2) are separated by two points.

Aníbal Godoy, who plays for MLS’s Nashville SC, headed in a 54th-minute corner kick as Panama ended the Americans’ 13-game unbeaten streak in all competitions and defeated them for just the second time in 24 meetings — and the first time in nine all-time qualifiers.

Four years to the day after probably the lowest moment in U.S. soccer history — an upset at Trinidad and Tobago that dashed hopes of qualifying for the 2018 tournament — the United States fell woefully short of its lively and inventive performance during a 2-0 victory over Jamaica on Thursday in Austin.

“We performed below the expectations we have for ourselves,” Berhalter said. “We came up short in a number of areas.”

Berhalter took responsibility for making seven lineup changes — necessitated, he said, because of the heavy schedule and travel (three games in seven days).

“If it didn’t work, it’s on me,” he said. “If we had played the same players as the last game, I am not sure we would position ourselves to win again on Wednesday. We had to make a somewhat risky decision.”

Panama was better organized and more engaged. Needing a victory at home, Los Canaleros took inspiration from the crowd. Memories from its first World Cup appearance three years ago in Russia remain fresh. A banner hanging from the second deck read, “Rusia fue un sueño, Qatar un compromiso” — Russia was a dream, Qatar is the commitment.

The only U.S. starting holdovers from the Jamaica game were Turner, center back Walker Zimmerman, midfielder Yunus Musah and winger Paul Arriola. The newcomers did not add much. The Americans finished with five shots but none on target. Panama dominated the midfield.

Acosta lost the ball several times and was poor in delivering set pieces. Because of those inadequacies, Musah, the most skilled player in the lineup, had to drop deep in the formation to collect the ball and attempt to create. Goalkeeper Luis Mejía, though, was not tested.

“We didn’t have that pop,” Berhalter said. “We didn’t have the legs we needed, and we suffered for it.”

Panama enjoyed possession and pressure, keyed by Alberto Quintero. Turner’s soaring touch save in the 45th minute kept the match scoreless into intermission. The halftime whistle could not have come soon enough for the flailing visitors.

Change was needed. Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson, standouts in Austin, entered.

Panama sustained its attacking vibe, and the goal came off a set piece. The home team had been dangerous on corner kicks all evening, and on this one, Eric Davis’s service into the six-yard box was met by Godoy, who, with his back to Turner at the near post, redirected it into the net. (It appeared to graze U.S. forward Gyasi Zardes, as well).

“A bunch of heads flying up for the ball,” Turner said. “Quick flick and it was behind me before I knew it.”

A corner kick, Zimmerman said, “should be a strength of our team.”

Berhalter turned back to his bench midway through the half, sending on star forward Ricardo Pepi, among others. No matter who was on the field, though, the United States never seemed right.

Roars of “¡Sí, se puede!” — Yes, we can! — echoed around the stadium.

Seven minutes of stoppage time could have been 17 minutes — the Americans weren’t going to come up with an answer.

“Sometimes when you get kicked in the mouth,” Acosta said, “you learn from it and you grow from it.”

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