The United States Men's National Team (Photo : Reuters)
Perennial Gold Cup finalist United States will settle to fight for the second runner-up spot against Panama in this year's edition of the CONCACAF tournament. The third place playoff affair will be held at the PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 25.
The Yanks were stunned by Jamaica in their semifinal meeting at the Georgia Dome on Wednesday. Winfried Schäfer's formidable forward tandem of Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes scored two early goals in the first half-hour of the match, then the Reggae Boyz held on until the final whistle for the 2-1 escape, as per the New York Times.
It was the first time since 2003 that the US had not advanced to the finals of this bi-annual event.
Meanwhile, Panama is coming off a controversial 1-2 loss to Mexico in the other semifinal bracket, via Fox Sports.
Two late penalty calls that were converted into goals by El Tri winger Andrés Guardado in stoppage time sealed the fate of Hernán Darío Gómez's squad. Los Canaleros center back Román Torres put the Panamanian's on the board in the 57th-minute to go up, 1-0, but breaks were not on their way in the dying moments.
Both teams will try to bounce back from their disheartening semifinal matches and it would be interesting to see how the teams would do that.
The prediction is a close 2-1 win for Team USA. The disappointment of losing against the Jamaicans makes the score closer than it would have been. But La Marea Roja is equally disappointed following controversial calls in their semis match against La Verde.
United States starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Guzan; Johnson, Brooks, Alvarado, Evans; Beckerman, Bradley; Bedoya, Zardes, Dempsey; Johansson
Panama starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Penedo; Machado, Torres, Cummings, Davis; Pimentel, Cooper, Godoy, Quintero; Tejada, Nurse
