Panama created something out of nothing, and now Mauricio Pochettino’s United States men’s national team project has to question everything after a 1-0 loss to Los Canaleros on Thursday in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals in California.
The USMNT will not win the CONCACAF Nations League for the first time in the competition’s nascent history, and now will play a third-place game against Mexico or Canada at 6pm ET Sunday.
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The Yanks were without several key players including Antonee Robinson, Folarin Balogun, Sergino Dest, and Ricardo Pepi, as well as secondary components Malik Tillman, Johnny Cardoso, and Haji Wright.
But Pochettino’s men also failed to do much with 66% of the ball and a 12-3 shot attempts margin. Goalkeeper is again in question after Matt Turner failed to save Panama’s lone shot on target, while Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie struggled mightily in an elimination game, just 16 months out from a home soil World Cup.
Attacking stars fail to shine as Pulisic has rare off day
There are many, many games where the USMNT opposition is going to target Christian Pulisic either through man-marking, double teams, or hard fouls. Sometimes that’s not enough to slow the American star but other times — like the first 70-plus minutes on Thursday — Pulisic is held at bay. For the first 45 minutes the Yanks had control of the game but struggled with the final ball. Timothy Weah found electricity in the second half and that helped change the game, but Pulisic was still not up to par both in the run of play and with set-piece service. Pulisic showed effort and energy but couldn’t find the right key to unlock Los Canaleros.
Center forward, goalkeeper positions remains wide open
This isn’t a shot at the United States men’s national team, although this country surely hasn’t produced enough star center forwards as opposed to goalkeepers, fullbacks, and midfielders. But claims for the No. 1 job or at least a regular slot in the team are still open when the side is missing injured Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi. Pochettino could’ve called up Haji Wright, who does have a Championship hat trick in his last few weeks’ worth of work, but instead gave a start to Josh Sargent. The Norwich City man was isolated but scored a goal that didn’t count due to Timothy Weah being offside and had another shot deflected off the post. Patrick Agyemang nearly beat Mosquera off the bench with an impressive show of physical force off the bench, then later shot a ball of his own foot after an acute-angle bid to finish a Pulisic cutback.
The other end of the pitch is an issue, too. This may seem unfair given Matt Turner’s incredible rise from American college goalkeeper to Premier League backstop, but he has to do better on the winner. Turner was wedded to his near post and could not get low fast enough to get to the stoppage-time decider. Waterman’s goal is a fine shot to be sure, but you expect a national team goalkeeper to make that save 8 times out of 10. Turner has to get regular playing time at club level ASAP by next Fall, and Zack Steffen or Patrick Schulte could well start the third-place game. The depth beyond them is... not deep. Ethan Horvath probably should be in the next camp as an every-week starter for Cardiff City but the Championship is neither the Premier League or a top league. Diego Kochen is 19 and only with Barcelona’s B team, and Gaga Slonina is injured at Chelsea.
Panama has moment for the ages
The final goal, as disappointing as it was for legions of American fans, will long live in the memory of neutrals — and obviously for Panama. In addition to scoring a stoppage-time winner, Waterman leapt into the CBS broadcast crew and emotionally celebrated with analysts Thierry Henry. The ex-Arsenal man later revealed that Waterman told him “You are my idol” twice in Spanish before the rest of Los Canaleros lineup surrounded Henry in celebration. American fans are more than tired of Panama as an opponent following the Copa America group stage loss last summer, but they can’t say they’ve seen much like the moment created by Waterman, Titi, and friends on Thursday.
CECILIO WATERMAN AT THE DEATH🔥
— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 21, 2025
PANAMA ARE HEADED TO THE CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE FINAL 🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/3mKdPR668Y
