US captain Christian Pulisic: 'The match of our lives' against Uruguay

Jun 27, 2024, 10:37 PM ET

ATLANTA — The United States men's team is in a precarious position in the group stage of the 2024 Copa America after a 2-1 loss to Panama on Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Americans will likely need to beat Uruguay, their top-ranked Group C opponent, on Monday in Kansas City to advance without outside help.

U.S. captain Christian Pulisic said it was a fight his team was ready for.

“We have to go there and represent our country with passion and pride,” Pulisic said. “We have to go out there and play the best game of our lives, that's all. We want to go there, we want to win and we want to continue in this competition. »

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Thursday's match against Panama went badly for the United States when forward Timothy Weah was sent off for a blow to the back of the head of an opponent during an off-the-ball incident. The Americans were mostly scrambling to defend for more than 70 minutes.

But there was hope from the start. Four minutes later, Folarin Balogun opened the scoring for the United States with a sublime strike that found the top corner, but Panama equalised four minutes later through Csar Blackman.

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter made three changes at halftime – including in goal, with Ethan Horvath replacing Matt Turner, who suffered a leg injury early in the first halftime – and the Americans sat back and defended in a 5-3-1 formation, playing to preserve the tie.

The tactic worked for the most part, until the 83rd minute, when second-half substitute Jos Fajardo beat American defender Cameron Carter-Vickers – one of Berhalter's halftime replacements to move to a back five – to a ball six yards from goal.

“There’s just one moment left,” Berhalter said of the USMNT’s second-half performance. “When you look at the stats, you look at the chances we gave up, it was really just that moment. The guy has an open look, and we didn’t handle the first ball very well, we didn’t handle the first ball very well. handle the second ball very well, and then [there’s] too much space between our central defenders on the cross.

“But other than that, we're talking about very, very little production coming out of Panama and a really huge effort from the guys who went in there, worked for each other, kept us in shape and kept moving forward.”

Panama was reduced to 10 players in the 88th minute when Adalberto Carrasquilla was sent off for a reckless challenge on Pulisic that caused a scramble and gave the Americans a free kick in a dangerous position. Panama committed 19 of the match's 23 total fouls and received three of the five yellow cards.

Christian Pulisic and the United States were beaten by Panama in their Copa America match in Atlanta. Getty Images

Among those fouls was a tough challenge on Turner in the 12th minute that involved a lower-body collision before Turner fell awkwardly onto his shoulder. Berhalter said at one point after the game that he was “not going to bite in that conversation” about center official Ivan Barton, but the U.S. coach expressed confusion that there was no yellow card issued to Panama on the play that ultimately hurt his No. 1 goalkeeper.

“We had already talked about this referee's tendencies, we knew what he was capable of and, to be honest, I think we played his game,” Berhalter said.

Turner declined to speak to the media after the game, only saying he was fine as he walked gingerly. Berhalter said Turner would be examined by the medical team later Thursday evening.

The USMNT lost to Panama on penalties in last year's Gold Cup semifinal — albeit with a team heavily reliant on MLS — and also lost away from home in World Cup qualifying in 2021. Thursday's loss to Panama was its first on American soil since the group stage of the 2011 Gold Cup.

The last time the United States lost a competitive home game after scoring first was also in the 2011 Gold Cup, in the final against Mexico.

After the match, the USMNT players unanimously recognized the obvious: Weah's red card changed the course of the match. They also said Weah recognized his mistake and would learn from it. (Tournament rules prevented Weah from being available to the media after the match.)

Midfielder Tyler Adams, who started and played the first half again for his first consecutive starts since the 2022 World Cup, said the defeat was a learning experience for the team.

“You can take a lot from this game,” Adams said. “It was a great experience for us, and I think we'll probably look at this game as kind of a replay of what we're going to face before this one. Obviously, Uruguay is a very good team. We know we're going to have to be at our best, but at the end of the day, we're going to be able to compete when we have 11 players on the pitch. It's going to be a completely different game.”

Uruguay isn't mathematically a must-win for the USMNT, but anything short of a win should make it difficult, if not impossible, to advance to the Round of 16. The United States would need help from the other group in this scenario. Panama is tied on points (3) with the United States in the group heading into the final day, but has an inferior goal difference.

Panama will be favorites against a Bolvia team that has not won away from home in nine years, and a Panama victory would force the United States to defeat Uruguay.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Pulisic said. “[It’s] “Like every game. If we need a win against Uruguay, then this is what we need to do. We are privileged to be in this position and to have this opportunity to represent our country. I I feel lucky to go into games like this, so I'm looking forward to it.”

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