USA 1-1 Panama: Highlights and recap

USA drew 1-1 with Panama in the 2017 Gold Cup on Saturday, July 8. Here are all the highlights from the match.

The U.S. Men’s National Team struggled for long stretches of their opening Gold Cup match against Panama, eventually settling for a 1-1 draw in Nashville.

The first half was largely uneventful, with the U.S. dominating the ball but struggling to break Panama down.

Dom Dwyer, making only his second USMNT appearance since becoming a U.S. citizen, showed flashes of quality, and combined with his teammates well, but was largely isolated as Joe Corona struggled to make an impact behind him.

The U.S.’s two best chances of the first half both fell to Kelyn Rowe, one of the few American players, to impress over the course of the match, but both his shots were drilled straight at Panama keeper Jose Calderon.

Things picked up almost immediately in the second half, and the U.S. took the lead in the 50th minute, with Rowe providing the assist for Dwyer to sweep into the far corner. It was an excellent finish, and Dwyer’s second goal for the national team.

However, the goal seemed take the focus out of the U.S. players, and Panama enjoyed their best spell of the match immediately after conceding. Brad Guzan made two excellent saves in the space of a few minutes, but was unable to keep out Miguel Camargo’s 60th-minute strike.

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The good news is this was by far America’s most difficult match of the group. They’ll face Martinique and Nicaragua in their next two matches, in which it will be a lot harder to feel ok about dropping points.

There’s no reason to think the U.S. won’t qualify for the quarterfinals, but this result means there’s a real chance they won’t qualify as group winners.