CARSON, Calif. — The final time the U.S. national team confronted Panama in match play, Los Canaleros surprised the Individuals 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 overwhelmed 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 relies on who you ask.
“I believe we have gotten previous that,” U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie advised 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 adverse power towards [them]. Hopefully we go on the sphere and we deal with it like one other recreation — like every other recreation we wish to win.”
Defender Joe Scally had a special take.
“In fact we at all times look again on the Copa América, the place we misplaced, and that sort of knocked us out of the match,” admitted Scally.
Both means, 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 a lot of the contest with 10-men after ahead Tim Weah was despatched off within the first half.
One other chippy recreation is definitely 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 totally versed on the challenges that they pose. However on the identical time, we now have to deal with ourselves and go on the market and guarantee that we’re doing what we have to do to proceed to be the champions on this competitors.”
That begins with scoring targets.
The U.S. is with out its prime two strikers this month, the injured Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi. However their absence has supplied 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 kind for his membership, with eight targets in his final 10 appearances for Norwich City in England’s second tier.
“We’re blissful 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 underneath Pochettino, having been harm 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 yr after scoring the championship-clinching objective in a 2-0 win over Mexico, the American’s fiercest rival.
Whereas Reyna has discovered minutes exhausting to return by for German titans Borussia Dortmund this season and appears unlikely to begin for the U.S. this month, he has the flexibility to win a match coming off the bench.
“Everyone knows what Gio can do whatever the scenario,” star ahead Christian Pulisic mentioned on Wednesday.
Being stingy in their very own half will probably be essential, too. Having rugged defensive midfielder Tyler Adams again for the primary time following his post-Copa again surgical procedure may 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 yr 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 resort and the whole lot, it is such a giant addition,” Scally mentioned of Adams, who served because the U.S. captain at Qatar 2022. “Additionally, his aggressiveness is certainly one thing that we missed.”
Whoever is in Pochettino’s lineup, the holders are decided to retain their title. That they will must precise revenge on Panama to earn that chance is an added bonus.
“We’re excited for the problem,” Pulisic mentioned. “In fact, the opposite groups, they’ll wish to take it from us. And we will battle.
“Now’s when it issues,” Pulisic added. “We’re two good performances away from successful a trophy. So that is what it is gonna take.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports activities who has lined the United States males’s and girls’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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