CARSON, Calif. — The final time the U.S. national team confronted Panama in event play, Los Canaleros shocked the People with a 2-1 win that successfully knocked the Copa América hosts out of final summer time’s competitors within the first spherical — a failure so epic it price then-coach Gregg Berhalter his job.
The USMNT has met and crushed Panama since then, final October in Mauricio Pochettino’s first game at the helm. However that match was solely a pleasant. Thursday evening’s encounter (kickoff at 7 p.m. ET) is the actual deal, with the 2 longtime Concacaf rivals vying for a spot in Sunday’s Nations League ultimate at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with the U.S. aiming for a fourth consecutive trophy. Given the stakes, how a lot is final summer time’s debacle on their minds? That is determined by who you ask.
“I feel we have gotten previous that,” U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie informed reporters earlier than Pochettino’s squad labored out on the LA Galaxy’s coaching facility on Wednesday. “We simply wish to maintain no feelings and detrimental power towards [them]. Hopefully we go on the sphere and we deal with it like one other recreation — like another recreation we wish to win.”
Defender Joe Scally had a distinct take.
“After all we at all times look again on the Copa América, the place we misplaced, and that form of knocked us out of the event,” admitted Scally.
Both approach, the stakes are clear. The U.S. should beat Panama to advance to the finale towards the winner of Thursday’s nightcap between Canada and Mexico. The hosts are the favourite. However as latest historical past suggests, the guests will not go quietly.
For greater than a decade now, this has been a lure recreation for the USMNT. Panama beat a full-strength U.S. squad within the 2011 and 2015 Gold Cup. They did it once more towards an American B-team in 2023. Final summer time was the large one, although, and it was largely self-inflicted; the U.S. performed many of the contest with 10-men after ahead Tim Weah was despatched off within the first half.
One other chippy recreation is unquestionably within the playing cards on Thursday.
“They’re at all times tough video games, they’re at all times intense video games, bodily, and we do not anticipate something much less,” defender Tim Ream mentioned.
USMNT vs. Panama: Preview & Who’s within the Beginning XI? | SOTU
“We’re absolutely versed on the challenges that they pose. However on the identical time, we’ve to deal with ourselves and go on the market and ensure that we’re doing what we have to do to proceed to be the champions on this competitors.”
That begins with scoring objectives.
The U.S. is with out its prime two strikers this month, the injured Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi. However their absence has offered a colossal alternative for veteran ahead Josh Sargent. Sargent, who began two of three group video games on the 2022 World Cup earlier than getting injured within the knockout stage-clinching win over Iran, hasn’t scored for his nation since 2019. However he is been in blistering type for his membership, with eight objectives in his final 10 appearances for Norwich City in England’s second tier.
“We’re pleased to have him,” McKennie mentioned of Sargent. “He is like a brother for all of us.”
Attacker Gio Reyna is concerned for the primary time beneath Pochettino, having been damage for the Argentine’s first two camps in cost final fall. The 22-year-old Reyna was named the Nations League’s prime participant final 12 months after scoring the championship-clinching aim in a 2-0 win over Mexico, the American’s fiercest rival.
Whereas Reyna has discovered minutes onerous to return by for German titans Borussia Dortmund this season and appears unlikely to begin for the U.S. this month, he has the power to win a match coming off the bench.
“Everyone knows what Gio can do whatever the state of affairs,” star ahead Christian Pulisic mentioned on Wednesday.
Being stingy in their very own half will likely be essential, too. Having rugged defensive midfielder Tyler Adams again for the primary time following his post-Copa again surgical procedure might go a good distance towards that finish. Adams’ on- and off-field management is simply as enormous, particularly with standout left again Antonee “Jedi” Robinson — U.S. Soccer’s male athlete of the 12 months in 2024 — having to withdraw from the roster on Tuesday due to an undisclosed ailment.
“Only for the vibe within the locker room and within the lodge and every little thing, it is such an enormous addition,” Scally mentioned of Adams, who served because the U.S. captain at Qatar 2022. “Additionally, his aggressiveness is unquestionably one thing that we missed.”
Whoever is in Pochettino’s lineup, the holders are decided to retain their title. That they’re going to have to actual revenge on Panama to earn that chance is an added bonus.
“We’re excited for the problem,” Pulisic mentioned. “After all, the opposite groups, they are going to wish to take it from us. And we’ll struggle.
“Now could be when it issues,” Pulisic added. “We’re two good performances away from profitable a trophy. So that is what it is gonna take.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports activities who has coated the United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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