A second shootout in a row didn’t work out for the US men’s national team in the Gold Cup.
Panama eliminated the USMNT in a 5-4 shootout win on Wednesday to advance to the Gold Cup final, its first trip since its runner-up finish in 2013. The match went to a shootout after a 1-1 end to extra time.
Adalberto Carrasquilla of the Houston Dynamo was the one who put the nail in the coffin:
Panama will face the winner of the Mexico-Jamaica game in the final on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The loss ends a young USMNT squad’s campaign for back-to-back Gold Cup titles.
US, Panama exchange goals in extra time
Twenty seconds into the match, US winger Cade Cowell fired a cross and hit the post. It was the closest to the Americans for almost 120 minutes.
Panama was the first to find the net in extra time, when a bizarre defensive breakdown by the Americans allowed an easy goal by Iván Anderson. The USMNT clearly believed their opponent was offside, but neither the refs nor VAR saved them.
The US responded six minutes in the form of the tournament’s leading scorer Jesús Ferreira, who needed just one touch to even things up. The goal was Ferreira’s seventh of the tournament, tying him for the second most ever in a Gold Cup.
Panama loses a goal — and a penalty kick — in the controversial end of regulation
The period between Cowell’s cross and halftime was distinctly controlled by Panama, which didn’t translate into much beyond a goal that was quickly ruled offside.
The USMNT retooled enough to make the second half a bit more balanced, but Panama still had the closest calls getting to the net, and the closest came in stoppage time. Panama wasn’t thrilled with how it went down.
Two and a half minutes into the extra five, a Panama corner saw the ball fly into a scrum, bounce away, then come back in for what briefly looked like an Ismael Díaz goal. That goal too was quickly wiped out — Díaz was clearly offside — but the bigger intrigue came when the Panamanian noted Djordje Mihailovic’s arm appeared to hit the ball on the initial fight for the ball.
Replay eventually ruled otherwise, taking a penalty kick from Panama.
Minutes later, the match was headed to extra time.