Mauricio Pochettino faces numerous hurdles as head coach of the US men’s national team, but the most immediate among them on Thursday was the problem Panama has posed for his squad in major continental tournaments.
Though Pochettino began his tenure with a 2-0 win against Panama on 12 October, Los Canaleros defeated the United States in two previous meetings: 2-1 during group play in last year’s Copa América – a loss that led to Gregg Berhalter’s firing as the United States’ coach – and 5-4 in penalties after a 1-1 draw in the semifinals of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup.
On Thursday at SoFi Stadium, Panama didn’t just provide more untimely frustration, they made history in the process. When Cecilio Waterman scored in second-half stoppage time for a 1-0 victory in the semi-final on Thursday night, Panama became the first team in the still-nascent history of the Concacaf Nations League to prevent the United States from winning that tournament.
Los Canaleros have a chance to win the Nations League for the first time Sunday by defeating Canada or Mexico in the final. The United States will play for third place in the first match of Sunday’s double-header.
“We’re still building our identity,” forward Christian Pulisic said, “but this was a tough loss.”
Waterman, who entered the game in the 70th minute, scored the winning goal off a pass from Adalberto Carrasquilla, firing a 15-yard diagonal shot from the right side of the penalty area past diving goalkeeper Matt Turner and inside the far post.
Waterman’s shot was Panama’s only one on target.
“Again, another small moment from nothing, and it’s a goal,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “We need to look in the mirror before anything and just realize that when we have these type of games, we can’t wait for something to happen. We have to make things happen, put games on our terms.”
Following the goal, Waterman doffed his jersey, jumped over the advertising barriers and embraced a stunned Thierry Henry, who was doing analysis for CBS Sports and Paramount+. Waterman shouted, “Eres mi idolo,“ Spanish for “You’re my idol,” to the former Arsenal standout, as about half a dozen joyous teammates joined Waterman to celebrate.
“They were hungry,” Pochettino said about his opponents. “They fight for the game, every single player, for every single ball. From the touch line, you feel that was the difference.
“We didn’t compete in the way that the game required. I feel so disappointed. We all feel disappointed. If you don’t have aggression, it’s impossible. You are going to play safe. You are not going to take risks. If you want to play football, you need to take risks. You need to go forward. You need to win 50-50 balls sometimes.”
The United States’ Patrick Agyemang, who entered the match two minutes before Waterman, had two late chances to win the game, with the best of those coming in the 82nd minute.
Weston McKennie began the potential scoring sequence by intercepting a pass intended for Carrasquilla and sending the ball to Agyemang on the run. After fighting off Panamanian defender Carlos Harvey, Agyemang forced goalkeeper Orlando Mosqueda to dive to his left to deflect his effort. In the 88th minute, Pulisic chested a McKennie pass while on the right flank, dribbled into the penalty area and crossed to Agyemang, who used his right instep to launch a close-range shot high over the crossbar.
With Fulham left back Antonee Robinson unavailable for the United States because of an unspecified injury, Pochettino started a three-man backline of Tim Ream, Joe Scally and Chris Richards, with Yunus Musah and Tim Weah serving as wingbacks. The United States began applying intense high pressure early and often, reducing Panama to long balls from the back or trying to generate offense by forcing turnovers.
However, the United States failed to create a consistent attack. And when they did create chances, they couldn’t put them away. In the 20th minute, a Josh Sargent shot from 12 yards out deflected off the right leg of Panamanian defender Edgardo Fariña and the base of the right goalpost. Mosquera batted the ball away before Cristian Martínez cleared it. McKennie followed with a close-range header into Mosquera’s midsection.
“You know, I think we definitely struggled with that in the first half,” Ream said, “and weren’t able to put enough pressure on them to cough up balls in areas that we felt that we could take advantage of.”
Pochettino expressed the situation more bluntly: “The first half, I think, was really painful, really painful to see.”
