ATLANTA — The United States men find themselves in a precarious position in the group stage of the 2024 Copa América after a 2-1 loss to Panama on Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Americans will likely need to defeat Uruguay, their top-ranked opponent in Group C, on Monday in Kansas City to advance without outside help.
American captain Christian Pulisic said his team is prepared for this fight.
“We have to go and we have to represent our country with passion and pride,” Pulisic said. “We have to go and play the best game of our lives and that's it. We want to go, we want to win and we want to continue in this competition.”
Thursday's game against Panama started poorly for the United States when forward Timothy Weah was sent off for hitting the back of an opponent's head in an off-ball incident. The Americans had to defend themselves for the next 70 minutes.
However, there was some immediate hope. Folarin Balogun put the USA ahead four minutes later with a sublime shot into the top corner, but Panama tied the score four minutes later through Cesar Blackman.
USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter made three changes at halftime, including in net, with Ethan Horvath replacing Matt Turner, who suffered a leg injury early in the first half, and the Americans sat and they defended 5-3. -1, playing to preserve the tie.
The tactic worked for the most part, until the 83rd minute, when second-half substitute Jose Fajardo beat American defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, one of Berhalter's half-time substitutes, to pass a back five, with a ball six yards from goal.
“It's about timing,” Berhalter said of the USMNT's second-half performance. “When you look at the stats, you look at the opportunities we missed, it was really just that timing. The guy has an open look, and we didn't handle the first ball very well, we didn't deal very well with the second ball, and then [there’s] Too much space between our centre-backs in the middle.
“But other than that, we're talking about very, very little production from Panama and really a tremendous effort by the guys who did go in there, worked for each other, kept their form and kept moving forward.”
Panama was down to 10 players in the 88th minute when Adalberto Carrasquilla was sent off for a reckless foul on Pulisic that led to shoving and gave the Americans a free kick in a dangerous position. Panama committed 19 of the 23 total fouls in the match and received three of the five yellow cards.
Among those fouls was a hard foul against Turner in the 12th minute that involved a lower-body clash before Turner fell awkwardly on his shoulder. Berhalter said at one point after the game that he was “not going to take the bait” on center referee Ivan Barton, but the U.S. coach expressed bewilderment that Panama had not been shown a yellow card in the play that ultimately injured his No. 1 goalkeeper.
“We talked beforehand about this referee's tendencies and we knew what he was capable of. To be honest, I think we played into his hands,” Berhalter said.
Turner declined to speak to the media after the game except to say he was fine while walking cautiously. Berhalter said Turner would be evaluated by the medical team later Thursday night.
The USMNT lost to Panama on penalties in last year's Gold Cup semifinal, albeit with a strong MLS team, and also lost on the road in the 2021 World Cup qualifiers. Thursday's loss to Panama was the first on American soil since the 2011 Gold Cup group stage.
The last time the United States lost a competitive home game after scoring first was also in the 2011 Gold Cup, in the final against Mexico.
After the match, USMNT players unanimously acknowledged the obvious: Weah’s early red card changed the game. They also said Weah owned up to his mistake and would learn from it. (Tournament regulations prevented Weah from being available to the media after the match.)
Midfielder Tyler Adams, who started and returned to play the first half for the first time in a row since the 2022 World Cup, said the loss was a learning experience for the team.
“You can learn a lot from that game,” Adams said. “That was a great experience for us, and I think we'll probably look at that game as a kind of replica of what we're going to face in this one. Obviously, Uruguay is a very good team. We know that we'll have to do our best, but at the end of the day we will be able to compete when we have 11 players on the field. “It will be a completely different game.”
Uruguay is not mathematically a must-win for the USMNT, but anything other than a win should make advancing to the knockout stage difficult and potentially impossible. In that scenario, the United States would need help from the other game in the group. Panama is tied on points (3) with the United States in the group heading into the final matchday, but has an inferior goal difference.
Panama will be the favorite against a Bolivia team that has not won away from home in nine years, and a Panama victory would force the United States to defeat Uruguay.
“I don't feel pressure about that,” Pulisic said. “[It’s] like every game. If what we need is to win against Uruguay, then that is what we have to do. We are privileged to be in this position and have the opportunity to represent our country. “I feel lucky to play in games like that, so I'm excited about it.”
