Weah received a red card in the 18th minute for punching an opponent in the back of the head, leading to his team’s 2–1 loss to Panama.
Despite the situation, the Americans actually took the lead after Weah headed in Folarin Balogun’s sensational goal in the 22nd minute. But Panama used their man advantage to respond quickly and put the United States under pressure before taking the lead on Jose Fajardo’s 83rd-minute goal.
“A win tonight would have put us in a good position, but unfortunately it was the opposite,” captain Christian Pulisic said. “Really disappointing the way we did it. Timmy knows what mistake he has made. That’s it. He is going to learn from this. it’s useless. it hurts. It’s a lapse of judgment, it’s a simple second.”
On Monday in Kansas City, Mo. Even a draw could create quite a dramatic situation in the Group C final against Uruguay. But because it lost, the United States (1-1-0) will almost certainly have to beat Uruguay (2-0). -0), the 15-time tournament champion who defeated Bolivia 5-0, later Thursday in East Rutherford, N.J.
“We have to represent our country with passion and pride,” Pulisic said. “We have to go out and play the best game of our lives.”
Failure to advance beyond the group stage would be a major embarrassment for the U.S. team, which is using this high-profile competition to prepare for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“It is a huge honor to represent the national team,” said coach Greg Berhalter, who is in his second stint leading the team to the 2022 World Cup. “A lot of expectations also come with it. Today’s result was very disappointing. But the effort was there, and if we put in the same kind of effort in terms of work effort and solidarity, we’ll have a chance.
Panama (1-1-0) also finished with 10 men when Adalberto Carrasquilla was given a red card for a brutal foul on Pulisic in the 88th minute. However, by then, former D.C. United striker Fajardo had scored on an eight-yard one-timer past back-up goalkeeper Ethan Horvath before 59,145 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Although the U.S. team had lost just two of its previous 26 meetings, Panama has become a thorny opponent. The teams split their 2022 World Cup qualifiers, with each winning at home, and Panama advanced to the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup semi-finals in a shootout.
As they did in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Bolivia in Arlington, Texas, the Americans performed a set piece to score early — except it didn’t count. Long after the celebrations had ended, referee Ivan Barton used video review to determine that Tim Ream was offside when he set up Weston McKennie’s shot.
Eleven minutes later, Weah was expelled for punching Roderick Miller during an off-the-ball exchange in midfield. Initially a yellow card, Barton again turned to video before upgrading it to a red.
According to tournament rules, a player who receives a red card is prohibited from speaking to journalists. Berhalter and the players said Weah apologized to the group after the game.
“Stupid decision by Timmy. He stood up and took responsibility immediately,” Berhalter said. In his club and national team career, Weah had received just one more red card.
“We can’t overdo it like this,” said defender Chris Richards, who was shown a yellow card in the second half. “The team had to pay the price for this. I know he’s in pain right now.”
However, the United States went ahead in the 22nd minute on a breathtaking smash from Balogun. Antoine Robinson intercepted a pass in Panama’s end and exchanged passes with Balogun. The striker’s powerful one-timer from the top of the penalty area kissed the far post and into the net for his second goal of the tournament and the fifth of his American career.
Panama replied four minutes later. Robinson disrupted Cesar Blackman’s initial bid from the top of the box, but Blackman stayed with it and fired a sliding shot beyond the reach of Matt Turner and into the left corner.
Turner suffered a leg injury after being attacked by a Panama player in the first half. He remained in the game until halftime but did not return in the second half.
That incident was one of several issues the U.S. team had with Barton.
“Think about it: He took Matt out of the game, and nothing else,” Berhalter said after Barton was not issued a card.
“You can blame the refs, but we still lost the game,” Richards said. “We have to do better and we can’t let things like this happen.”
Barton and the video review were again in the spotlight in the 63rd minute, when they awarded Panama a penalty kick. But after review, they determined that substitute Cameron Carter-Vickers had not actually fouled Fajardo.
The Americans had a chance to go ahead in the 81st minute on substitute Ricardo Pepi’s header from McKennie’s cross. But Panama took full advantage of the late opportunity.
“You look at the opportunities we gave up (in the second half), there was really only one moment where the guy got an open look,” Berhalter said. He said, “We did not face the first ball well. “We didn’t deal with the second ball well and then we had space between our center backs on crosses.”
The goal – and the result – left the group in disarray with one set of matches remaining.
“This is a must-win game,” Ream said. “It’s an early game knockout game.”
Discover more from news2source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
