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USMNT bombs Mauricio Pochettino’s first test, loses 1-0 to Panama in CONCACAF Nations League semifinals
- A shocking ending as Panama scores in the final minute of stoppage time to steal the win.
- IT’S 1-0 PANAMA WITH MINUTES LEFT IN THE MATCH
- This game is crying out for somebody who can make a play out of nothing in tight spaces.
- Gio Reyna and Diego Luna are two of maybe three U.S. players capable of doing that. And yet Pochettino hasn’t turned to either of them.
- A few injury stoppages over the past 10 minutes.
- One chance for the U.S., created by Weston McKennie for Pat Agyemang, was comfortably saved.
- Still 0-0, 85th minute.
- The changes have not changed anything so far.
- Still dull, congested, and 0-0.
- Apologies to those who’ve spent an hour and a half of their life watching.
- … but Gio Reyna is not one of them.
- Pochettino subbing in Patrick Agyemang and Jack McGlynn for Josh Sargent and Tanner Tessmann.
- … has been their Tyler Adams-reinforced defensive solidity.
- Panama has created nothing of note. (Which, of course, Panama will be just fine with if the U.S. also creates nothing of note. But still, the U.S. structure, both defensively and in defensive transition, has been good.)
- One of the USMNT’s problems in the first half was that Panama, with its narrow 5-4-1, was forcing the Americans to attack through wide areas… and the U.S. had nobody capable of making plays with the ball at his feet on the right.
- So, Pulisic and McKennie have swapped. McKennie is now in the left halfspace, and Pulisic is playing wide right.
- Some early pressure from the U.S. to start the
- … by the few thousand USMNT fans who are actually here.
- It’s 0-0.
- Roaring start to the year before a World Cup year! (That’s sarcasm, to be clear.)
- For a semifinal, between two teams that have played chippy, physical affairs in the past, with a World Cup in the not-too-distant future… this has been quite dull.
- A pretty sparse crowd — many of whom are wearing green and waiting for the second game — hasn’t helped.
- … Tim Weah was offside in the buildup, by several yards.
- A few moments later, Sargent scored, but an easy call to disallow it.
- After a rocky, tentative stretch between minutes 5 and 15, the USMNT just created two chances.
- First, McKennie found Sargent with a cut-back in the box, and the striker’s shot deflected off the post.
- Next, Weah found McKennie with a cross, and McKennie’s back-post header, from pretty darn close range, was right down the goalkeeper’s throat.
