Published 6/11/2011 11:28:48 PM by William Montero from soccermogul

That was about as bad as it gets.  The US slumped to an embarrassing 2-1 loss to lowly Panama in the 2011 Gold Cup Saturday night.  It was the first ever loss for an American side in a Gold Cup group match.

The opening half could be termed nothing more than a disaster as Panama countered well and took advantage of some poor play by US centerbacks Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream.  If these are to be the centerbacks in the upcoming 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign there is a ton of work to be done.

The US teams are conted on as being very good on set pieces, yet in the opening 45 minutes they were poor at best.  Wasted corner kicks and freekicks were numerous.  Then at the other end some shoddy marking allowed Panama to get the opening goal shortly after their own freekick.  On the goal a long cross found a wide open Armando Cooper on the backpost where he headed on goal.  Tim Howard was only able to palm it away where Luis Tejada scrambled it home.

Minutes later things went from bad to worse for an American side clearly flustered.  Clarence Goodson was looking to clear a ball out of his own penalty area when Blas Perez slipped in front of him stealing the ball.  Goodson swung through and took out Perez conceding a penalty kick which Gomez blasted home for the 2-0 lead.

The second half saw the usual US rally.  Coach Bob Bradley finally decided to get the horrible Jermaine Jones off the field replacing him with Sacha Kljestan.  Bedoya also was introduced and the pair had a positive impact, pushing the attack.

In the 66th minute the US got a goal back as Clarence Goodson headed home a Bradley flicked on corner.  It looked like it was just a matter of time until the tying goal would come as the Americans pushed forward in waves.  

The opportunities were created, but some poor finishing let the US down.  Clint Dempsey headed over twice while Landon Donovan volleyed wide from close range.  The real shocker came from Chris Wondolowski though.  Jozy Altidore got deep into the Panama box and slid square to the waiting Wondolowski only a few yards in front of goal.  All he had to do was tap home.  Instead he blasted high somehow.  Michael Bradley also missed from 10 yards out after a wonderful buildup left him for the finish.

All in all a terribly frustrating night.  Now Panama sits atop a goofy Group C.  Panama is on 6 while the US and Canada sit on 3.  Canada and Panama face off in the last group match while the Americans face winless Guadeloupe.  All will be decided on the final Group C matchday.

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