Shuffled lineup struggles in loss
PANAMA CITY, Panama — Anibal Godoy scored in the 54th minute as Panama upended the United States 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier Sunday night when American coach Gregg Berhalter started a largely secondstring lineup in the middle of another hectic stretch of three matches in seven days.
Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna and Weston McKennie were out with injuries, Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson were on the bench, and Antonee Robinson didn’t travel because of British COVID-19 restrictions that would have required a quarantine on his return to England.
With the U.S. lineup far from its best, the Americans looked both nervous and overamped for stretches of the first half.
Adams entered at the start of the second half and gave away a corner kick that led to the goal on a ball he may have been able to clear. Eric Davis’ corner was headed by the 31-year-old Godoy past goalkeeper Matt Turner and inside the far post, causing a crowd about three-quarters full to shake Estadio Rommel Fernandez.
“We’re going to look back at this and be frustrated,” Turner said. “Physically, the intensity wasn’t there. They got a huge boost from their home crowd and we didn’t match and exceed that.”
Aaronson gave the U.S. more energy and pace, and Ricardo Pepi, DeAndre Yedlin and Christian Roldan entered in the 67th. During the final hectic minutes, the game was interrupted twice when fans ran onto the field, and a ball was thrown from the stands. The ball boys didnt’ help, occasionally throwing multiple balls onto the pitch after one went out of bounds.
“I had like two or three,” Turner said. “I was just trying to get them off the field as quickly as I could. I didn’t want the game to stop anymore. People running on the field. The ball boys were throwing, kicking the balls onto the field as high as they could. And I was just trying to keep the chaos off the field as much as I could and keep our momentum going.”
The defeat ended a 13game unbeaten streak for the Americans that included 11 wins. It was their first ever loss to Panama in a qualifier.
“In the first half it was probably a little bit of lack of energy and competitiveness,” Adams said. “We have to do better.”
The U.S. has eight points after five of 14 games, ahead of Panama on goal difference, heading into Wednesday night’s match against Costa Rica.