Stunner in Tampa Bay

In a shocking upset, the U.S. Men's national soccer team just lost to Panama, 2-1, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup (the biannual soccer championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean). It is the first time the U.S. has ever lost a game in the Gold Cup group stage. Their only other non-win was a draw versus Haiti in 2009.


The U.S. was comprehensively outplayed until the final 15 minutes of the match, going down 2-0 at halftime as the result of two defensive breakdowns in their own penalty area, one of which resulted in a penalty kick. The Americans could not maintain possession, were not competitive in the air until late, and frankly looked like they didn't want it as much as the Panamanians did. Panama dominated the first half; it looked like the U.S. was sleep-walking.


In the last 20 minutes the Americans finally played with some urgency and pulled a goal back via a Clarence Goodson header at the end of a Landon Donovan free kick. Afterward they had three excellent chances to score, one by Chris Wondolowski, one by Michael Bradley, and one by Landon Donovan, but none of them were even put on frame. Wondolowski's miss was especially egregious, as he had a tap-in from a beautiful cross by Jozy Altidore from point-blank range, but skied it over the bar.


As a result of the loss, the U.S. is now second in Group C. Panama has 6 points and a +2 goal difference, the U.S. has 3 points and a +1 goal difference, Canada has 3 points and a -1 goal difference, and Guadaloupe is last with 0 points and a -2 goal difference. In order to win the group and thus avoid a much more difficult quarterfinal pairing, the U.S. has to beat Guadaloupe by several goals in its last match (which they should be able to do, but they should have been able to beat Panama, too) and hope that Canada beats Panama so that the U.S. can finish first on goal difference. If the U.S. and Panama finish with the same goal difference, Panama currently has the edge because they have scored five goals and the U.S. has scored three.


It is a little early to press the panic button, but unless the U.S. rebounds during the remainder of the tournament their manager Bob Bradley should be fired. It falls on him to make sure his players are up for a match, and they were not for this one. U.S. soccer is at the point where anything less than an appearance in the Gold Cup final is unacceptable. It is also at the point where it cannot waste time with ineffective coaches. A failure at the Gold Cup is a big enough reason to let Bradley go because there is no way he will be able to lead a successful World Cup 2014 campaign if he cannot even produce a good Gold Cup showing, which takes place in the U.S.! Mexico is the only CONCACAF opponent that the U.S. should ever lose to at home, and that rarely. Hopefully the loss against Panama is what the team needs to get themselves in gear, but they have already dug themselves a difficult hole to escape from.