U.S. Men’s National Team Defeat Panama 1-0 on Zusi Goal

U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann didn’t bring his A-squad to Panama City for Wednesday night’s match. While that was no surprise to supporters of the U.S. side they still may have been wishing for a player or two to step up and put in an A-squad performance. What they saw instead were some very tired players putting in a solid B-squad-like performance, according to the U.S coach. In the end, the team walked away with a win, their second consecutive victory of this January camp and the third for a Klinsmann squad. More importantly, the victory came in a fairly hostile environment where young players gained experience.

“I think we saw a very close game, a very tight game which we luckily won because Panama didn’t finish off the chances that they had,” said Klinsmann. “Our team had a very hard three weeks, and they had tired legs today and you could see that. After the red card, we couldn’t pressure enough anymore to create more chances. Overall, I think it really paid off doing this, not only playing a game in the U.S., but coming down here. A lot of the young players learned their lesson today.”

“Our goal with these two games was very simple. We wanted to introduce the players to those difficult games in different environments, especially away from home outside of their comfort zone. We wanted them to come here and experience this atmosphere and a different way of doing things. I think they did very well with all that.

Video highlights after the jump —>

The game’s only goal came in the 8th minute of play when left back Zach Loyd crossed into the box from his flank. Chris Wondolowski drew a player away from goal as he went to the ball but it fell to Teal Bunbury who deflected the ball back to his right were Graham Zusi had made a run. The midfielder slotted the ball into a space that Panamanian goalkeeper Luis Mejia left open, scoring the game’s only goal.

A U.S. midfield that gave the ball up to many times in central areas and some defensive disorganization caused Nick Rimando to come up with some outstanding 1st half saves that kept the Americans in the game. Rimando was replaced at half, but his heroics in the first 45 minutes was reason enough for U.S. Soccer to name him Man of the Match.

Rimando wasn’t the only one with heroics. Panama’s Mejia had some of his own in the 30th minute of play with a series of saves, first flying high in the air to stop a 35-yard Jermaine Jones cannon and then following up by slapping away Wondolowski rebound header that looked sure to find the back of the net.

The second half saw a pressing Panama, especially after U.S. center defender Geoff Cameron was deemed to have denied a goal-scoring opportunity for Blas Perez who had gotten in front of him. Cameron made contact with Perez who went down just in front of the U.S. box. The central defender was shown a straight red in the 52nd minute putting the U.S. down a man for the remainder of the game.

Panama continued to create chances but poor finishing doomed their side. In the end, the U.S. held on for the victory which improves Klinsmann’s record to 4-4-1.