The U.S. were stunned again, another dark night for a national team that under Pochettino have had such bright expectations
LOS ANGELES – There's just something about Panama. Something about this team that consistently throws the U.S. men's national team into these dark places. Three tournament matchups, three losses to Panama. It's inexplicable.
New coach, same problem, ultimately, as Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT became the latest edition of this squad to fall to Los Canaleros, with the host team stunned on home soil yet again. Thursday's CONCACAF Nations League semifinal ended in shocking fashion, 1-0, with Cecelio Waterman burying the U.S. with a 94th-minute winner.
For the first time, Panama are into this competition's finale. And for the first time the USMNT are not.
Having won all three previous iterations of this tournament, this marks the first time the USMNT have tasted the sting of the defeat. The USMNT outshot Panama 12-3 – putting five on target – earned nine corner kicks and enjoyed two-thirds of the possession.
And yet? A turnover, a half chance and, suddenly, a defeat. It didn't take much for Waterman to send the U.S. into Sunday's third-place game against Canada, which lost 2-0 to Mexico. This was another dark night for a national team that, under new management, have had such bright expectations. There have been far too many results like this over the last few years.
"We played too slow, too comfortable on the pitch," Pochettino said. "We didn't show aggression with the ball and there are consequences to not showing aggression with the ball. We also didn't show aggression in a defensive way."
With the World Cup some 450 days away, maybe this is the wake-up call they needed to really understand how much work needs to be done. Maybe, though, it's a sign of a team that can't seem to step up in big moments.
GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from SoFi Stadium.
ImagnWINNER: Cecelio Waterman
File it in the folder of all-time great celebrations. Every kid who has ever kicked a ball will dream of the moment Cecelio Waterman had Thursday night. After scoring a career-defining goal, Waterman hopped over the boards and celebrated by hugging his childhood hero. Regardless of what team you support, how cool was that?
Waterman didn't leave SoFi Stadium with his jersey. He instead gifted it to his idol, Thierry Henry, who was an integral part of his big moment. After beating Matt Turner from an impossible angle, Waterman hopped on the CBS broadcast stage and embraced the legendary Arsenal star, a player who has inspired countless soccer fans all over the world. His reach goes from France to London To Barcelona and, as Thursday made clear, to Panama.
Waterman got to hail Henry for that influence while also earning his credit from the man himself. "Eres mi idolo!" he yelled over and over again. On Thursday night, Waterman was Panama's idolo.
Waterman will leave with a prize eventually. Henry promised to return the favor by sending him a jersey of his own. And that it happened was stunning, given how the game played out. For 94 minutes Panama held down the fort and survived. Then Waterman, in the blink of an eye, swooped in and won it.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Josh Sargent
The moment the offside flag went up, Josh Sargent must have felt like the most unlucky man in the world. Those feelings might just be justified. Just moments missing out on one goal attempt by hitting the post, Sargent's goal was called back for an offside call on Tim Weah – that happened well before Sargent smashed his shot into the back of the net.
The goal drought goes on, and Sargent will be open to criticism. It's been five years since Sargent has scored for the USMNT. How good it must have felt to have that weight lift off his shoulders for those few seconds before the flag went up?
That weight seemingly held him down the rest of the game. Sargent never got a real look at goal again before being substituted in the second half in favor of Patrick Agyemang, who himself will be rueing his two looks at goal that didn't go in.
Sargent wasn't bad by any stretch, but strikers are defined by goals, particularly in tight games. It's been far too long since he got one and, until he does, the weight will only get heavier.
AFPWINNER: Thomas Christiansen
Waterman plies his trade for Coquimbo United in Chile. The man who set it up, Coco Carasquilla, just left MLS for Liga MX. Panama's three centerbacks came from MLS, the English Championship and Russia, while their goalkeeper plays for one of the Saudi Arabian teams that isn't loaded with stars.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has players at AC Milan, Juventus and Lyon. They have Premier League veterans and Bundesliga stalwarts. No matter. Panama won, and Thomas Christiansen was the man who, again, orchestrated it all.
Leading up to Thursday, Pochettino was full of praise for his counterpart. He credited Christiansen as the man responsible for Panama's success, the mastermind who has made these upsets possible. This was arguably Christiansen's best work yet as he terrorized the U.S. for a third consecutive time in an official competition.
There's no grand secret to this. Panama look to suffocate the opposition, frustrate them and then hit them when they can. That's what they did on Thursday. That's what they've done several times now.
"Today, it's about everyone," Christiansen said. "They all fought like crazy and they deserve the win. We have very good players, not at the same level as the U.S., but I think one of our strengths as a team is teamwork. We had that today."
The fight was not reciprocal.
"The difference was the way they fight for the game," Pochettino said. "They were hungry for every single ball. Every ball was the last one for Panama and, from the touchline, you feel that difference."
Credit to Panama's players, but credit to Christiansen, too. He's the one who so often inspires it and the reason they'll be playing Sunday with a trophy on the line.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino bemoaned the USMNT's lack of intensity. That lack of intensity led to a lack of risks and, ultimately, a lack of creativity. For whatever reason, he was unable to pull the right strings to ignite the USMNT in what was an unimaginative, languid performance.
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and it's much easier to question substitutes after the fact. But when the USMNT was struggling with the narrowness of the game – and playing on a pitch literally more narrow then it will be when SoFi hosts World Cup matches next year – Pochettino didn't turn to Gio Reyna or Diego Luna, two players that even he acknowledged could have thrived if inserted.
The U.S. boss was waiting for the chance to do so in extra time. And then Waterman spoiled that plan.
"It's true that we were waiting for the end of the 90 minutes to have the possibility to play Gio and Diego," he said. "For different circumstances, we had to change [Chris] Richards for [Mark] McKenzie and maybe that was the window for a different player. Those were the circumstances, but we never expected to concede in that moment. That's true, but we were thinking about the option to play Gio and Diego, for sure, and they are going to have an opportunity."
Much of the blame will fall on the players, and rightfully so. This is the third time in a row the U.S. has lost to Panama in official competitions and Pochettino wasn't in charge of the other two. Something needs to be fixed internally, and it isn't as simple as coaching.
Pochettino, though, didn't make the difference, either. He was brought in to reignite a talented but meandering group of players. On Thursday, that didn't happen, and everyone involved paid the price.
