TAMPA, Fla. — The United States made soccer history Saturday night, but it was far from what the Yanks had in mind.
The U.S. offense looked disjointed, the defense unorganized, and in the end, its pride took a beating as Panama defeated the United States for the first time in history, capturing a 2-1 victory before 27,731 at Raymond James Stadium.
The loss was the first in Gold Cup pool play for the United States. The defeat also makes Tuesday’s PoolC finale against Guadeloupe in Kansas City, Mo., unexpectedly critical. Panama sits atop the group with six points while Canada and the United States have three.
The top two countries in each of the three groups advance along with the top two third-place teams.
“We came out flat,” U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan said. “We learned a hard lesson.”
Panama held a two-goal lead until Clarence Goodson’s header in the 68th minute trimmed the score to 2-1.
The United States pushed furiously from that point against a shelled-up Panamanian defense, but the equalizer never came.
“In the second half we put a lot into it,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “In terms of executing in the final third, that part was clearly an area where we didn’t do well enough.”
The Yanks, whose offense came to life after the Goodson goal, had several opportunities during the final 20 minutes.
Their best came in the 80th minute, but sub Chris Wondolowski’s shot from inside the 8-yard box off a Jozy Altidore cross sailed over the crossbar.
Michael Bradley narrowly missed wide in the 90th minute, and Clint Dempsey’s header in extra time was turned away.
“We had some good chances,” Bradley said. “But nonetheless, not sharp enough in the areas that matter.”
Panama quieted a rowdy pro-American crowd early, scoring in the 19th minute. Gabriel Gomez’s long pass from about 35 yards found an unmarked Armando Cooper streaking toward the far post.
Keeper Tim Howard blocked Cooper’s header, but a sliding Luis Tejada cleaned up the rebound and toed in the goal.
“We can’t come out the way we did against teams in our region,” Donovan said.
Gomez converted a penalty kick in the 36th minute after a foul in the area by U.S. defender Tim Ream.
