World Cup qualifying: USMNT plagued by depth issues in loss at Panama
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Even before Gregg Berhalter made seven changes to the U.S. men’s national team’s lineup for Sunday’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying loss in Panama, the Americans were going to take the field at Estadio Rommel Fernandez severely shorthanded.
No fewer than five players who would be locks for the starting 11 if the 2022 tournament in Qatar kicked off today — Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, John Brooks, Weston McKennie and Antonee Robinson — weren’t available against Los Canaleros.
When Berhalter opted to rest five key contributors (on-fire striker Ricardo Pepi, acting captain Tyler Adams, Barcelona fullback Sergiño Dest, top center back Miles Robinson and scoring winger Brendan Aaronson) from what seemed to be a momentum-building 2-0 victory over Jamaica last week in Austin, Texas, there simply wasn’t enough continuity — or, more to the point, ability — to prevent the program’s first defeat of the 2022 cycle and only loss to Panama in a qualifier ever.
It was no fluke.
By every measure, the hosts thoroughly deserved all three points. Panama outplayed the U.S. from start to finish. They out-passed, out-fouled, out-possessed and outshot them, too. The Americans didn’t force a single save out of home goalkeeper Luis Mejía. They lacked sharpness as individuals and looked disjointed as a group.
It wasn’t close to good enough.
"Who are the people stepping up in [the missing players’] absence to show that they should be in this team, that they should be fighting for a starting spot?" USMNT great Clint Dempsey said on the Paramount+ postmatch studio show. "They didn’t have the fight. They didn’t have the energy. They didn’t have the confidence."
They didn’t have a chance. Berhalter said his team would "get our ass kicked" if they let up even a little bit against Panama, and he was right.
"We didn't have that pop. We didn't have the legs that we needed," Berhalter said. "It wasn't a lack of trying. It was just we didn't have that 100 percent today."
They also didn’t have the depth. The U.S. missed Adams' and McKennie’s physicality terribly in the midfield. For all of veteran forward Gyasi Zardes’ relentless pressing and defensive contributions — he cleared several dangerous crosses out of his own box before he might or might not have accidentally nodded Anibal Godoy’s corner kick past U.S. backstop Matt Turner — he isn't as dangerous as Pepi in the buildup or in front of goal.
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Backup fullbacks Shaq Moore and 19-year-old lefty George Bello weren’t able to spring attacks the way Dest and Antonee Robinson can. Center back Mark McKenzie was fine, but far from the dominant force Miles Robinson had been in playing every minute of the first four qualifiers.
With three games in seven days, of course, Berhalter had to rotate his roster to prevent injuries and keep guys from getting overworked. There was always going to be a drop-off. The question was how much.
"We wanted to get fresh guys on the field," Berhalter said. "We had a number of guys that performed below the expectations."
He inserted Adams and Aaronson at halftime, then made a triple-substitution with a little more than 20 minutes left, bringing on Pepi, DeAndre Yedlin and Cristian Roldan. Still, the Americans barely threatened.
"It never felt like we could get in a rhythm with possession to have the composure to keep the ball, move the ball, move them around, make them run," defender Walker Zimmerman said.
Now, the pressure is on the U.S. to beat Costa Rica — which overcame a 1-0 deficit to top El Salvador on Sunday — on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, in the final game of this three-match October window.
"We all have to be up for it. There's no other option," Zimmerman said. "You look at your home games, those are the games that you have to win. And they become increasingly more important when you don't get a result on the road."
As toothless as Sunday’s performance was, all is not lost for the U.S. With five of 14 games played, they sit in second place behind Mexico and occupy one of the three automatic qualification spots for next year’s World Cup.
The team should get both McKennie and Antonee Robinson back in time to face the Ticos. Dest and Miles Robinson will be fully rested. Adams and Aaronson should also be good to go the distance in Columbus, after logging only 45 minutes in Panama City.
"We know that we have another game on Wednesday, and we want to rotate players," Berhalter said. "And if it didn't work, then it's on me. It obviously doesn't look like the best choice."
That’s clear now. But then again, the preparation for Costa Rica — which beat the U.S. at home during the disastrous 2018 cycle — has to factor into the big-picture equation, too.
"If we would’ve played the same players [from the Jamaica match] in this game, I'm not sure we would position ourselves in the best way to win again on Wednesday," Berhalter said. "We had to make, I guess, a somewhat risky decision."
The gamble didn’t pay off, and that raises questions about just how deep this young and undeniably gifted player pool is, about whom Berhalter can rely on when it matters most.
The U.S. will still be down several key men against Costa Rica. Following Sunday’s loss in Panama, it will be on the regulars who remain to steer the Americans back on track.
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.