The Panama Game was a major test for this USMNT generation – and they failed

We'll come back to the match against Panama in a moment, but first think back to December 2022.

The United States men's national team had just been eliminated from the World Cup by the Netherlands, losing 3-1 in the round of 16. A nation was searching for answers: why couldn't Gregg Berhalter's side get the job done?

“If you look at the difference between the two teams; for me there was an attacking finishing quality that we are missing a little bit,” Berhalter said of the second-youngest under-32 side in that tournament. “It's normal. We have a very young group and they are going to catch up.”

Ah, youth. There is nothing more exciting in football than the concept of potential; the promise that no matter how good a player or team is, you just have to wait until they find their sea legs. With experience should come the intangible qualities that complete an athletic skill set. These are often the qualities that turn a good player into a great one: an erudite reading of the game or an otherworldly ability to predict the opponent's next move, to name a few.

Still, it can be a disappointing silver lining to fixate on after a team is eliminated from a World Cup. Those only come around once every four years and, furthermore, there is no guarantee that any player, let alone a collective of them, will have squatter rights to national team places as younger alternatives rise through the ranks.

At some point, an individual or team must demonstrate that the proverbial “learning moments” from previous setbacks have resonated and will lead to better decisions.

Which brings us to Thursday night in Atlanta.

For fifteen minutes, the USMNT were up for the challenge. Panama represented the kind of foe that Berhalter’s side would welcome under the circumstances. In this all-American edition of the Copa America, ostensibly the CONMEBOL (South American) championship, you’d think it would be better to face a CONCACAF rival you play regularly than someone from another confederation.

After the final whistle, with his team down 2-1, Berhalter and his players repeatedly touted their familiarity with Panama. They knew Panama was a team that would play with chippiness in every play. They knew what Panama was all about, and they knew what approach they would take in the hopes of shocking the tournament hosts.

It begs the question: if you knew where the opponent would be are traps, how come you ended up in a trap of your own creation?

(Eliecer Aizprua Banfield/Jam Media/Getty Images)

Since taking over in 2018, one of the hallmarks of Berhalter’s USMNT tenure has been his ability to thwart, overcome and ultimately run circles around Mexico. For decades, those two teams have been battling for supremacy in the CONCACAF balance of power. While nations like Costa Rica or Canada have enjoyed strong periods this century, their success has been contextualized against the region’s twin powers.

The framing does a disservice to the rest of CONCACAF, a kind of football classism that builds on past pedigree and fame surrounding a country's best players. The nature of a group draw, where each team gets its next three opponents, inevitably fixates on the perceived 'toughest' opponent in the three matches, regardless of their place in the queue. So if you're focused on a match against Marcelo Bielsa's high-flying Uruguay at the end of the group, you risk overlooking the teams you're less afraid of.

Teams like Panama.

Even after watching the highlight of Tim Weah's 18th-minute red card a dozen times (or maybe special After watching it so many times, it's hard to fathom his decision-making. Before and after the game, the United States stressed that they knew Panama would use the dark arts to gain control of the game.

Tim Weah is shown a red card after review for this contact 🟥 photo.twitter.com/phw8bSzdKR

— FOX Football (@FOXSoccer) June 27, 2024

Tim Weah gets red! 😱

The United States player is shown red for violent conduct 🟥

Big moment in this game… pic.twitter.com/WEmV5B9DKt

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) June 27, 2024

The thing is, this wasn't one of those cases. It wasn't a response to a scything tackle or a sharp elbow bump behind the referee's back. It was retaliation for an otherwise unremarkable off-ball bump between a defender ready for a challenge and an eager attacker. That this was the series of events that allowed Panama to play more than 70 minutes with one more man? It undermines the claim that it “knew” what to expect.

Well, maybe that's unfair. There is knowing what is coming and then planning accordingly. This last part is of greater importance.

(Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

It is fair to say that the gamesmanship the United States claimed to expect did indeed materialize.

Chief among the examples was Cesar Blackman's challenge in the 12th minute, with the Panama player crashing into a defenseless Matt Turner in the air without making a serious nod to the ball. Goalkeeper Turner suffered a knee injury, which may have limited his mobility when Blackman put the equalizer into the net just fourteen minutes later.

Of course, Blackman escaped the collision without seeing a yellow card, but that's another story.

In a cruel twist, the player who seemed poised to bring the “attacking finishing quality” that Berhalter craved in 2022 did his part. Even after Weah’s red card and before Blackman’s goal, Folarin Balogun opened the scoring with the kind of effort that only a special striker could confidently convert.

(Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

The USMNT fought valiantly in the second half after Berhalter made a trio of adjustments to replace Turner with a new goalkeeper, withdraw a midfielder to add another defender and swap defensive midfielders to ensure stability. In theory, a 1-1 draw would have done wonders for the hosts, leaving them on four points and Panama on one with one match remaining.

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Ultimately, Panama's extensive possession (74%, or 72% if you only count the touches in each attacking third) gave them enough time to convert one point into three. As Christian Pulisic succinctly put it after the game, “it's not that easy to keep the ball” when you're down one man. Panama created their best chance of the game in the 80th minute and didn't waste it.

Weah's teammates and coach were quick to report that the Juventus player was remorseful after the match, saying he had apologized for his actions and the disadvantage it caused. It seems likely that he will soon get another chance (either in the knockouts or after this tournament) to make amends — as others of this generation, including Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest have done after their own mishaps on and off the pitch.

But for now, the damage is done. Weah's ill-advised shove gave Panama an advantage it may not have needed but certainly appreciated. Tyler Adams called Weah's foul a “lesson” to think about for the future. Pulisic assured us that Weah “is going to learn from it.”

Haven't we heard this before? Given how infrequently the USMNT can schedule friendlies against teams outside of CONCACAF, is there any excuse left for not having some level of mastery over the intricacies of playing rivals within your confederation?

How can a team expect to outwit Uruguay, or Brazil or Colombia, in a potential quarter-final – not to mention the wider field at a World Cup – if it often falls victim to the opponents it knows best?