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USMNT vs. Panama live updates: Highlights, analysis, score as Americans seek revenge in CONCACAF Nations League
- … has been their Tyler Adams-reinforced defensive solidity.
- Panama has created nothing of note. (Which, of course, Panama will be just fine with if the U.S. also creates nothing of note. But still, the U.S. structure, both defensively and in defensive transition, has been good.)
- One of the USMNT’s problems in the first half was that Panama, with its narrow 5-4-1, was forcing the Americans to attack through wide areas… and the U.S. had nobody capable of making plays with the ball at his feet on the right.
- So, Pulisic and McKennie have swapped. McKennie is now in the left halfspace, and Pulisic is playing wide right.
- Some early pressure from the U.S. to start the
- … by the few thousand USMNT fans who are actually here.
- It’s 0-0.
- Roaring start to the year before a World Cup year! (That’s sarcasm, to be clear.)
- For a semifinal, between two teams that have played chippy, physical affairs in the past, with a World Cup in the not-too-distant future… this has been quite dull.
- A pretty sparse crowd — many of whom are wearing green and waiting for the second game — hasn’t helped.
- … Tim Weah was offside in the buildup, by several yards.
- A few moments later, Sargent scored, but an easy call to disallow it.
- After a rocky, tentative stretch between minutes 5 and 15, the USMNT just created two chances.
- First, McKennie found Sargent with a cut-back in the box, and the striker’s shot deflected off the post.
- Next, Weah found McKennie with a cross, and McKennie’s back-post header, from pretty darn close range, was right down the goalkeeper’s throat.
- Tyler Adams needed only eight minutes to show why he’s such a valued member of this national team.
- Chris Richards got bodied off the ball by Christian Martínez, who led a Panama break. Adams scrambled back and blocked Martínez’s cross in the penalty box.
- As Weston McKennie said yesterday, when asked about Adams: “Having him in the lineup, and playing in that 6 role, it’s kind of a sense of security — knowing that if you’re not able to get back [and defend … he can do it.”
- USMNT with the ball: 3-2-5, with Weah wide left, Musah wide right, Adams-Tessmann double pivot, McKennie and Pulisic in halfspaces.
- USMNT without the ball: 4-4-2, with Musah at RB, Scally LB, McKennie RM, Weah LM, Sargent and Pulisic leading press.
- Here’s what the USMNT shape looks like from up above…
- via https://bsky.app/profile/henrybushnell.bsky.social
- That’s the big question, even after seeing the lineup.
- It’s one of the most open-to-interpretation starting 11s that the U.S. has ever rolled out.
- Rather than make a guess, let’s just see what it looks like… five minutes until kickoff.
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