Recap: Panama

Traveling south from the United States has not been the easiest for the Men’s National Team.  After being down to ten men for a large portion of the match, they were able to gut it out as exhaustion seemed to get the better of both teams.  Coach Jurgen Klinsman would notch his third straight win and it would set up some interesting decisions for late February.

Right off the start the back line was threatened as Panama started coming forward.  Within the first minute Zach Loyd was out of position and passes were being made over the 4-4-2.  Loyd and Ricardo Clark also gave the ball away with bad passes.  There was very little possession until the two striker attack paid off in the 9th minute.  Loyd swung in a ball toward a marked Teal Bunbury which landed well for Graham Zusi, who finished with authority. The other Panamanian center back was occupied by a run from Chris Wondolowski.

Zusi’s goal was his first national marker, but Wondolowski’s run made it possible.  He seemed to be playing with the most confidence, but it was not contagious for the team.  A giveaway by captain Jermaine Jones would catch Loyd out of position resulting in a yellow card just out of the box.  The counter attack that Panama is known for was evident and so was the noise.

Panama began to control the play while the U.S. had trouble getting anything going.  In the 26th minute Luis “The Cat Killer” Renteria was 1-on-1 with ‘keeper Nick Rimando, who made a fabulous save.  Gabriel Gomez, a Philadelphia Union player, made the pass look easy.  Despite the play, the U.S. was able to get a quality chance as Jones ripped a shot from distance that was solved by Panama’s goalkeeper Luis Mejia who then made a fabulous save on Wondolowski’s header attempt.

Julio Dely Valdes switched tactics again for the Panamanian National Team moving his entire team up higher to defend and it was working against Jurgen Klinsmann’s side.    In what seems to be a ritual, Jones was given a yellow card just before halftime.  Heath Pearce also came in for Loyd in the 41st minute as the U.S. defended its fifth corner.  Even despite a sub par effort, Bunbury stood out as the least confident player on the pitch.  His first touch was horrible and his judgment was off all night.

The first half star, Rimando, who looked to be limping, would be replaced in goal by Sean Johnson to start the second half.  A straight red on Geoff Cameron in the 54th minute would be harmless as the free kick was poorly executed.  One could argue that Blas Perez had a bad first touch taking him into Cameron’s path.  Regardless the straight red to Cameron was harsh, but would put the U.S. down to ten players with just one striker.  The red meant Jeff Parke would come in for Wondolowski to create a full back line once again.

Panama continued the trend of the over the top ball as Michael Parkhurst and Parke tried to gel while the U.S. failed to maintain possession.   The Panamanian team was not getting caught offside with the higher backline of the U.S.  Klinsmann also employed some stalling tactics subbing in Jeff Larentowicz and Brad Evans.  Larentowicz and Evans would be fresh legs to help control more of the pitch.  Possession became the name of the game in the second half.

Fatigue was easy to see for guys like Brek Shea and A.J. DeLaGarza by the 75th minute.  They would not be replaced as C.J. Sapong would come on to replace Bunbury just before a header by Perez just missed the mark.  However, it looked like Johnson had the net covered.  Perez had a number of opportunities that failed to hit the mark, including in the 86th minute.  After three minutes of stoppage

It was clearly not a great day for Bunbury, Shea, Jones, or DeLaGarza.  Loyd was up and down as was Parke.   Parkhurst was able to recover on most of the high balls over the top and seemed to be leader of the defending crew.  In limited duty Sapong looked strong on the ball, while Pearce looked comfortable.

It was not a great effort, but it was something to build on.  The USMNT will play Italy on February 29th.