Mauricio Pochettino faces quite a few hurdles as head coach of the US males’s nationwide crew, however essentially the most quick amongst them on Thursday was the issue Panama has posed for his squad in main continental tournaments.
Although Pochettino started his tenure with a 2-0 win in opposition to Panama on 12 October, Los Canaleros defeated america in two earlier conferences: 2-1 throughout group play in final yr’s Copa América – a loss that led to Gregg Berhalter’s firing as america’ coach – and 5-4 in penalties after a 1-1 draw within the semifinals of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup.
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On Thursday at SoFi Stadium, Panama didn’t simply present extra premature frustration, they made historical past within the course of. When Cecilio Waterman scored in second-half stoppage time for a 1-0 victory within the semi-final on Thursday evening, Panama turned the primary crew within the still-nascent historical past of the Concacaf Nations League to forestall america from profitable that event.
Los Canaleros have an opportunity to win the Nations League for the primary time Sunday by defeating Canada or Mexico within the remaining. The US will play for third place within the first match of Sunday’s double-header.
“We’re nonetheless constructing our id,” ahead Christian Pulisic mentioned, “however this was a troublesome loss.”
Waterman, who entered the sport within the seventieth minute, scored the profitable objective off a cross from Adalberto Carrasquilla, firing a 15-yard diagonal shot from the proper aspect of the penalty space previous diving goalkeeper Matt Turner and contained in the far submit.
Waterman’s shot was Panama’s just one on course.
“Once more, one other small second from nothing, and it’s a objective,” midfielder Tyler Adams mentioned. “We have to look within the mirror earlier than something and simply understand that when we’ve these sort of video games, we will’t look forward to one thing to occur. We’ve got to make issues occur, put video games on our phrases.”
Following the objective, Waterman doffed his jersey, jumped over the promoting boundaries and embraced a shocked Thierry Henry, who was doing evaluation for CBS Sports activities and Paramount+. Waterman shouted, “Eres mi idolo,“ Spanish for “You’re my idol,” to the previous Arsenal standout, as about half a dozen joyous teammates joined Waterman to have fun.
“They have been hungry,” Pochettino mentioned about his opponents. “They struggle for the sport, each single participant, for each single ball. From the contact line, you’re feeling that was the distinction.
“We didn’t compete in the way in which that the sport required. I really feel so disenchanted. All of us really feel disenchanted. Should you don’t have aggression, it’s inconceivable. You’re going to play protected. You aren’t going to take dangers. If you wish to play soccer, that you must take dangers. You should go ahead. You should win 50-50 balls generally.”
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The US’ Patrick Agyemang, who entered the match two minutes earlier than Waterman, had two late possibilities to win the sport, with the most effective of these coming within the 82nd minute.
Weston McKennie started the potential scoring sequence by intercepting a cross meant for Carrasquilla and sending the ball to Agyemang on the run. After combating off Panamanian defender Carlos Harvey, Agyemang compelled goalkeeper Orlando Mosqueda to dive to his left to deflect his effort. Within the 88th minute, Pulisic chested a McKennie cross whereas on the proper flank, dribbled into the penalty space and crossed to Agyemang, who used his proper instep to launch a close-range shot excessive over the crossbar.
With Fulham left again Antonee Robinson unavailable for america due to an unspecified damage, Pochettino began a three-man backline of Tim Ream, Joe Scally and Chris Richards, with Yunus Musah and Tim Weah serving as wingbacks. The US started making use of intense excessive stress early and infrequently, decreasing Panama to lengthy balls from the again or making an attempt to generate offense by forcing turnovers.
Nevertheless, america didn’t create a constant assault. And after they did create possibilities, they couldn’t put them away. Within the twentieth minute, a Josh Sargent shot from 12 yards out deflected off the proper leg of Panamanian defender Edgardo Fariña and the bottom of the proper goalpost. Mosquera batted the ball away earlier than Cristian Martínez cleared it. McKennie adopted with a close-range header into Mosquera’s midsection.
“You already know, I believe we positively struggled with that within the first half,” Ream mentioned, “and weren’t capable of put sufficient stress on them to cough up balls in areas that we felt that we might reap the benefits of.”
Pochettino expressed the state of affairs extra bluntly: “The primary half, I believe, was actually painful, actually painful to see.”