United States Soccer has no business not being ready for the start of games or thinking that they can get the win by simply showing up. And yet that's what happened Saturday night when the listless American's gave up two soft goals in the first half to Panama and were fighting up-hill the rest of the night.
As they are prone to do, the USMNT started to get its act together as the game wore on. They scored their first goal in the 66th minute on a nice header from Clarence Goodson and then blew a couple of other great chances to at least get a tie.
Here's a recap of the Panamanian scoring on two inexcusable goals:
USA Vs. Panama, Gold Cup 2011, Group C: Panama Defeats USMNT 2-1 - SBNation.com
The first goal of the game was credited to Luis Tejada, but it appeared that it may have actually been a Clarence Goodson own goal. In the 19th minute, following a free kick, an unmarked Eduardo Dasent put a header on target at close range, making it impossible for Tim Howard to direct his save. The USMNT keeper did well to just stop the shot, but the ball dribbled into the back of the net after it bounced in off the foot of either Goodson or Tejada.Later in the first half, Tim Ream gave away a penalty when he hauled down Blas Perez in the box. Gabriel Gomez converted it to give Panama a 2-0 lead, and the United States were shell shocked. They went into halftime down 2-0, with Bob Bradley frustrated and everyone knowing they needed to make changes.
Panama has now won their first two games in group play and are guaranteed to advance. The Americans face Guadeloupe on Tuesday, June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET vs. Guadeloupe in Kansas City, KS in a must-win situation. Hopefully, they will play with full urgency and focus for the full 90 minutes.