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Soccer | Panama 1 (3), United States 1 (2)
United States’ Gold Cup Performance Culminates With a Whimper
By JERÉ LONGMANJULY 25, 2015

CHESTER, Pa. — The United States national soccer team did not want to be here Saturday afternoon, playing a Gold Cup consolation match in a small soccer arena instead of the championship game at a large football stadium.

And it showed for long, somnolent stretches in the American attack as a 1-1 match fizzled to a conclusion with the United States losing, 3-2, in a penalty shootout to Panama before an announced crowd of 12,598 at PPL Park.

After recent exhibition victories over Germany and the Netherlands, the Americans ended the Gold Cup with consecutive defeats in a tournament that the their stated goal was to win.

That will increase scrutiny of Coach Jurgen Klinsmann as the United States prepares for home friendlies against Peru and Brazil in September and an important playoff match against the Gold Cup winner in October.

Mexico and Jamaica will play the Gold Cup final Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field in nearby Philadelphia. On Oct. 9, the winner will face the United States, the 2013 Gold Cup champion, for the right to represent Concacaf at the 2017 Confederations Cup, an important tuneup for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

A playoff victory would erase the Gold Cup frustration for the Americans, but it is not likely to come easily, especially if the United States has to face Mexico at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., where the fans would support Mexico in large numbers.

The best that can be said about Saturday for the Americans is that they finished without a suspension or major injury for the playoff.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/sports/soccer/concacaf-official-blames-human-error-for-referees-decisions-in-panamas-loss.html?ref=soccer&_r=0