by The USMNT are currently in second place in Group C in CONMEBOL (The South American Football Confederation) Copa America 2024. With only one game left in the group stage they have to play the group leader, Uruguay. The top two teams in the group out of four get to move on to the round of 16. Under them with the same amount of points is Panama. Even though Panama came out victorious just this past Thursday the 27th 2-1, USMNT have the edge in goal differential.
Thursday’s game started when the Juventus midfielder Weston Mckennie put away a goal in just the fifth minute. Unfortunately VAR (Video Assistant Referee) reversed the goal as he was offside. The struggles continued and in the 18th minute Timothy Weah got sent off the pitch with a straight red card after he appeared to hit a Panama defender in the head purposely. Yet, down an extra player the USMNT got a goal just four minutes later by Florian Balogun, his second of the tournament. Balogun hit the ball with his left foot, on the left side of the field. The ball hit the far post and bounced in for one of the best goals of the tournament so far. But the U.S. lead didn’t last long, as Panama just four minutes later scored a goal of their own. Cesar Blackman placed the ball out of Matt Turner’s glove in the bottom left corner tying the game back up at 1-1.
This was a very physical game and there were several hard fouls on both teams. It wasn’t until the 83rd minute when people started to question the USMNT and more specifically Gregg Berhalter, the coach. Panama’s forward and substitute Jose Fajardo just outside the six yard box rocketed a ball past Ethan Horvath and into the back of the net. They did go on to receive a red card of their own but in the end they won 2-1. Based on the numbers, Panama outplayed the US in most of the categories, holding 73% of the total possession, 12 shots- six of them on goal. In comparison, the US took six shots in total, three more corners, and one less offside. The numbers never lie.
Many people have come out and criticized the coaching side of the USMNT after the loss to Panama. At the front of this blame is the manager, Gregg Berhalter. His job is on the line on Monday, July 1st when the face off against Uruguay in Kansas City. Berhalter called the result “disappointing” and Weah’s red card “silly”. He did recognize the “effort of the group, especially going down a man”. The US has a major task ahead of them in the Uruguay team. Uruguay has scored a tournament-best eight goals and only allowed one for a differential of +7 also which is also a tournament best. Uruguay is led by manager, Marcelo Bielsa and forward, Darwin Nunez.
The USMNT will have to be at their best if they hope to move on. If they do win they will most likely advance to the round of 16. If they tie they would also need a tie from Panama vs. Bolivia. If they lose, however, they would need a win from Bolivia (These outcomes are based on the fact that the tie breaker would go to the US as they already have the tiebreaker over Panama). Berhalter said that “we’re all getting ahead of ourselves” according to the game on Monday. But one thing is clear- the US will have to do something different if they want to advance and keep playing and save Berhalters job.
