October 11, (THEWILL) – The Panama national team on Sunday beat the United States men’s national team (USMNT) 1-0 in the ongoing CONCACAF World Cup qualifying series.
The victory ended the USMNT’s 24-match unbeaten streak.
In a lacklustre performance that would leave the manager worried, the USMNT could not move into gear after their win over Jamaica on Thursday.
The best chance the Gregg Berhalter-led team had to stay atop the CONCACAF standings was squandered in what was their worst performance in qualifying thus far.
The USMNT rarely seemed like a threat moving forward with key players like Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna injured, and vital contributors like Ricardo Pepi and Brenden Aaronson starting on the bench.
Panama was on the front foot throughout the encounter and appeared to be the more threatening team, even though that does not say much considering they only had three shots on goal. While that number was not particularly great, it was better than the USMNT’s, who did not manage to direct a single shot at goal.
After a disappointing first half for both teams, Panama came out stronger in the second half, scoring the game-winning goal in the 54th minute thanks to Anibal Godoy. His front-post header from a corner kick deflected off the head of USMNT striker Gyasi Zardes and past Matt Turner in goal.
Berhalter made many changes in the second half, including two at halftime, to change the tenor of the game but none of them were able to turn the tide around, as quality passes into the attacking third were absent, and Panama forced the North Americans to turn the ball over much too often.
With this unexpected result, the USMNT will be under pressure to avoid dropping points against Costa Rica on Wednesday. On Sunday, Los Ticos defeated El Salvador 2-1 to open up a three-point gap on top of the CONCACAF standings with 11 points. The US and Panama are joint-second on 8 points each after five rounds of matches.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
