The U.S. men’s national team won all three editions of the Concacaf Nations League thus far, but there won’t be a fourth.
Panama stunned the USMNT in stoppage time, with substitute forward Cecilio Waterman finding the breakthrough and scoring the 94th-minute winner in a 1-0 triumph in Thursday night’s semifinal at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles.
It was against Panama in October that Mauricio Pochettino debuted as manager, with the U.S. winning 2-0 in Austin, Texas. The stakes were significantly different Thursday, though, and the U.S. could never quite find any fluidity in the final third. It’s Panama that will go on to play the winner of Thursday night’s other semifinal between Mexico and Canada, while the U.S. will face the loser in Sunday’s undesirable third-place match.
CECILIO WATERMAN AT THE DEATH🔥
PANAMA ARE HEADED TO THE CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE FINAL 🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/3mKdPR668Y
— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 21, 2025
It’s not the first time that Panama has caused the U.S. grief of late, with Los Canaleros stunning the Americans at Copa América last summer and dealing a massive blow to their hopes of getting out of the group. They didn’t, Gregg Berhalter was fired, and the new era was ushered in in the fall. This tournament represented a chance for Pochettino to avenge that defeat and win his first trophy as an international manager. Yet given the clout that he has brought to the role and the expectations to win it, that did not come to fruition.
With Antonee Robinson, the star Fulham left back, out injured, the U.S. was forced to shuffle its lineup, with Joe Scally out on the defensive left instead of his usual right-sided role and Yunus Musah thrust into right back instead.
While the Americans started out on the front foot and earned an early corner, it was Panama that had the first real sign of danger, with Tyler Adams forced to cover in defense for Chris Richards after Cristian Martinez got in behind the U.S. center back. It was Richards who cleared the danger from ensuing ninth-minute corner kick, though.
Panama continued to be the more fluid of the two going forward, with goalkeeper Matt Turner, on his 50th cap for the U.S., forced to race off his line and punch a cross to safety at about the quarter-hour mark.
The U.S. finally created some danger in the 19th minute. It came through Josh Sargent, whose deflected first-time chance pinged off the post. It was set up through Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, with the former springing the latter deep down the right, and McKennie’s cut-back cross picking out Sargent in the center of the Panama box.
A minute later, McKennie nearly got the opener, with his close-range header smothered by Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera.
Sargent put the ball in the back of the net in the 24th minute, appearing to give the U.S. the lead, but the goal was chalked off for an offside on Weah in the build-up to the goal, leaving the score at 0-0.
JOSH SARGENT NEARLY SCORES HIS FIRST USMNT GOAL IN FIVE AND A HALF YEARS 😱 pic.twitter.com/P0X280qyxx
— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 20, 2025
Neither side truly threatened more beyond that before the halftime whistle hit, leaving plenty to be done over the final 45 minutes.
In a stat that underscores how underwhelming the U.S. attack was over the first 45 minutes, we present the Not What You Want Dept.:
Most first-half touches:
Ream (64)Richards (61)
Scally (54) pic.twitter.com/S4urhXOiRx
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) March 20, 2025
The U.S. carried the run of play for the opening section of the second half, with Weah forcing a save from long range and one-way traffic emerging over the first 10 minutes following the break. Still, Panama’s resistance held out, with the match scoreless as the hour mark approached.
Panama started to turn the tide again, and in the 65th minute it appeared Los Canaleros might have a chance to break through. Adalberto Carrasquilla played a ball over the top for forward José Fajardo to run onto, yet he took his time to get settled and wound up airmailing his shot. Beyond that, a very delayed offside flag went up, rendering the move moot anyway.
¡Fajardo deja ir la gloria! ¿Lo ‘salva’ el fuera de lugar?#BatallasEpicas pic.twitter.com/RyxTBh1yA3
— TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) March 21, 2025
The U.S. turned to its bench a couple of minutes later, with Sargent and Tanner Tessmann coming off in favor of a couple of MLS-based January camp standouts: forward Patrick Agyemang and midfielder Jack McGlynn.
Panama countered in the 70th minute, with Cecilio Waterman replacing Fajardo.
As the match crept towards the 80th, Panama had another chance to find the breakthrough, with José Córdoba getting his head to a cross, only to launch it over the target.
On the other end it was Agyemang who nearly scored for the U.S., with the strong Charlotte FC forward running onto a line-splitting pass from McKennie, bodying off his defender and trying to pick out the far corner, only to have Mosquera parry the shot to safety.
CLOSE FROM PATRICK AGYEMANG 😱
The USMNT have some momentum late 👀 pic.twitter.com/kGZefZXpSG
— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 21, 2025
Agyemang had another golden chance in the 88th minute. Mark McKenzie, who came on as a defensive substitute, played Pulisic down the right-hand side, and the AC Milan star squared the ball for Agyemang. He couldn’t quite handle the redirect, though, and his shot went harmlessly off-target.
The U.S. was made to pay for its wastefulness in the final minute of stoppage time, when Waterman got free for a shot on the right-hand side and tucked it inside the far post to give Panama the lead and ultimately the win.
USMNT vs. Panama starting XIs
USMNT
Matt Turner; Joe Scally, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Yunus Musah; Tanner Tessmann, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie; Christian Pulisic, Josh Sargent, Tim Weah
BENCH: GK Patrick Schulte, GK Zack Steffen, D Cameron Carter-Vickers, D Max Arfsten, MF Gio Reyna, MF Jack McGlynn, MF Diego Luna, MF Brian Gutiérrez, F Patrick Agyemang, D Marlon Fossey, D Mark McKenzie, F Brian White
PANAMA
Orlando Mosquera; Jorge Gutierrez, Jose Cordoba, Edgardo Farina, Cesar Blackman; Cristian Martinez; Carlos Harvey, Anibal Godoy, Adalberto Carrasquilla, Jose Luis Rodriguez; Jose Fajardo.
BENCH: GK Luis Mejia, GK Cesar Samudio, D Martin Krug, MF Edward Cedeno, F Ismael Diaz, F Cecilio Waterman, F Tomas Rodriguez, MF Janpol Morales, D Ivan Anderson, F Gustavo Herrera
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(Top photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images)
