Gold Cup Recap: Panama Downs US to Finish 3rd
Third-place matches at international tournaments have to be the most difficult matches for professional soccer players to motivate themselves for, given that “qualifying” for such matches necessitates a semifinal loss, leaving the teams contesting these glorified consolation matches the knowledge that they are ultimately playing second fiddle to the main event.
Given the generally poor level of play in the first half, with neither team really able to establish a rhythm on offense, leaving both with precious few chances while possession swung back and forth as sloppy and listless play was the order of the day.
The best chance of the first half fell to Armando Cooper who took off on a run right through the heart of the US defense and beat goalkeeper Brad Guzan but not Tim Ream‘s sliding goalline clearance.
The 25-5 shot advantage that Panama racked up over the course of the match demonstrated their better attacking play, but in keeping with their finishing woes throughout the tournament, they were unable to capitalize on the opportunities that were created. Roberto Nurse‘s completely-mistimed finish of the inch-perfect cross from Miguel Camargo from the right wing epitomized a wasteful half for Panama.
As the 2nd half began, Panama continued to look like the likelier of the two teams to score. Fabian Johnson bailed Guzan out with another goalline clearance to prevent Rolando Blackburn from scoring off a set-piece, and it seemed only a matter of time before Panama would take the lead.
Sure enough, after 55 minutes, Nurse ran on to a through ball and easily faked out Ream and John Brooks to cut inside and easily beat Guzan at the far post with a curled finish. The goal was no more than Panama deserved.
Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann responded by putting on Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin for the ineffective Chris Wondolowski and Graham Zusi. The US began to show more urgency in their play behind the energy of these substitutions, and in the 70th minute, the renewed focus paid off as Michael Bradley chipped a ball forward into the box, and Yedlin chested it down nicely before turning into space and teeing it up on the right side of the box for Dempsey to half-volley home.
The US kept up a period of sustained pressure, but just as Panama’s wastefulness in front of goal was the story of their tournament, the Americans’ inability to maintain a consistent tempo instead of playing well in brief spurts was a theme again, and they were unable to capitalize after putting Panama on the back foot.
A stalemate developed as both teams began to show signs of fatigue, but Panama were able to create one more golden opportunity off a corner kick, and this time, Guzan did not need a teammate on the goalline as he pulled off arguably the save of the tournament down low to his left.
The game went to extra-time, which played out uneventfully, and the biggest talking point of the extra period was an incident involving Yedlin and Alberto Quintero that involved some pushing and shoving.
With the match still deadlocked after 120 minutes, penalties were going to decide the winner. After both sides successfully converted their first two attempts, Johnson stepped up to take the third kick for the US, but skied it into the stands. Cooper followed for Panama, and his similarly-poor kick was easily saved by Guzan.
Bradley was next for the US, and goalkeeper Luis Mejia followed in the footsteps of suspended goalkeeper Jaime Penedo‘s shootout heroics in Panama’s quarterfinal win and dove superbly to his right to save the US captain’s attempt. Harold Cummings slotted home his attempt, and after 4 rounds, Panama was ahead 3-2.
All US hopes fell on veteran DaMarcus Beasley, who came out of international retirement as a replacement callup after the group stage. Beasley had played well up to that point after coming on as the US’ final substitute to begin extra-time.
Once again, Mejia was equal to the task, and his save sealed the 3-2 shootout win for Panama and the 3rd-placed finish in the tournament. After finishing as runners-up in 2013, this result may have been a step down, but with the controversy of the semifinal loss to Mexico still fresh in their memories, this win will have provided a good morale boost to the squad.
