U.S. men's soccer team's Copa América on precipice of disaster after 2-1 loss to Panama

If you don’t take care of the things that are within your control, you’re even more susceptible to things beyond your control.

It’s an eternal lesson in soccer, and one the U.S. men’s national team needed no reminding of heading into Thursday’s Copa América group stage game against Panama. But it bit them anyway, because star forward Tim Weah’s reckless red card early in the first half sent the game cascading toward a 2-1 U.S. loss in Atlanta

A soap opera of a first half started in the fifth minute when Weston McKennie scored off a free kick play, but it was called back on a video review because Tim Ream was offside in the buildup.

In the 12th, U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner was slammed into by César Blackman, with American defenders Antonee Robinson and Ream heading in their direction. Blackman was not sanctioned beyond the call of a regular foul.

And in the 16th, Weah swung a fist at Panama’s Roderick Miller off the ball. Referee Ivan Bartón initially gave Weah a yellow card, then upgraded it to a direct red after a video review.

It was a shocking lapse of judgment from Weah, one of the Americans’ top stars, and TV viewers at home saw a replay that made the contact clear. He will miss the Americans’ group stage finale against Uruguay in Kansas City on Monday (9 p.m., FS1, Univision 65, TUDN, ViX).

That was already going to be not just the Americans’ biggest game of the tournament, but their biggest game since the 2022 World Cup. Uruguay is a soccer powerhouse, with stars at both ends of the field who’ve made the Celeste one of the favorites to win the tournament. They dismissed Panama, 3-1, in their opener, and were to play Bolivia later Thursday.

If the U.S. fails to advance out of the group — and a tie vs. Uruguay wouldn’t be enough if Panama beats Bolivia — the already-loud chorus of calls for manager Gregg Berhalter’s dismissal will grow even louder.

“You never mean to get a red card, under no circumstances — he’s not that type of person,” U.S. midfielder and captain Tyler Adams told Fox’s TV broadcast after the game. “He apologized to the team. … Respect to the rest of the team, because they fought for every single ball, every single duel, every single minute, and we still created chances after going down to 10 men. So it shows our quality.”

Balogun scores another big goal

...continued

swipe to next page