In the semifinal of the 2023 Gold Cup, the USMNT lost to Panama on penalty kicks.

JESUS FERREIRA scores the tournament-leading seventh goal to force a shootout. This is the first time in team history that the USMNT has gone to penalty kicks in back-to-back games.

SAN DIEGO, California (July 12, 2023) – In the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinals, the U.S. Men’s National Team lost to Panama 5-4 on spot kicks after a 1-1 draw. The U.S. team went the full 120 minutes for the second time in three days. For the first time in team history, there were back-to-back penalty shootouts. The loss ends the USMNT’s run at this year’s confederation championship. Forward Jess Ferreria scored the tournament’s most goals, seven, in front of 31,690 people at Snapdragon Stadium.

It was the 12th time the USA played Panama in the Gold Cup. Panama was the USA’s most common opponent in the event, and it was only the second time the Central American team beat the USMNT. In the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup Final, which will be held on Sunday, July 16, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Panama will play the winner of the other quarterfinal on Wednesday. This could be either Jamaica or Mexico.

Early in the game, it didn’t take long for the USMNT to get things going up front. Forward scored in the first minute of play. After a mistake by the Panamanian defense, Brandon Vazquez made a dangerous pass. Cade Cowell, a young star, was playing in his second game of the event. From the edge of the penalty area, he hit the ball with his right foot and hit the base of the post.

After that, Panama had most of the ball and led the attacks in the first half. Forward Ismael Diaz, who scored three goals for Los Canaleros in their semifinal match against Qatar, gave the U.S. defense a warning shot in the 12th minute. He took a quick shot from a tight angle and forced goalie Matt Turner to make a good save. In the 29th minute, defender Adalberto Carrasquilla sent a perfect pass to Yoel Bárcenas, who put the ball in the back of Turner’s net with a close-range shot. But the assistant referee’s flag was up, which meant that the play was over because the player was offside. In the 43rd minute, a mistake by defender DeJuan Jones in clearing the ball caused another scramble. This time, Turner had to leave his line to stop Diaz from getting a free shot near the penalty spot.

At the beginning of the second half, the U.S. had a good chance to win. In the 52nd minute, Cowell broke through the Panamanian defense with a brilliant move on the right side of the penalty area. He then sent the ball across the goal mouth. The directing pass was at an odd height, so Vazquez hit the ball over the crossbar in his first game of the 2023 Gold Cup.

A minute later, at the other end of the field, Diaz of Panama shot a sharp cross from the right side of the field down and into the goal. Turner made his second save of the game when he dove to tip the ball up and out of the field for a corner kick.

After an hour, the game started to open up, and in the 65th minute, the USMNT had its best chance so far. It was a big move that started in the back with Turner and ended with midfielder Gianluca Busio charging forward with the ball through the middle of the field. The Golden Boot leader Ferreira was on the end of a low cross from the right by second-half replacement DeAndre Yedlin, but he just missed the far post with his shot. Both teams had chances to win the game in the last few seconds of normal, but neither was able to do so. The U.S. was going for yet another round of extra time.

In the first period of extra time, the USMNT started to look tired because it had one less day of rest than its opponent. In the 99th minute, Ivan Anderson, a Panamanian defender, got his first international goal by staying on his run and getting in behind the U.S. defense to score Panama’s first goal. Turner ran out of his goal to stop the threat, but the replacement was a step faster and put the ball in the back of the net.

Panama’s lead didn’t last long. In the 105th minute, Jordan Morris, who came on in the second half, rose to head a long ball into the goal area. In the last few seconds of the half, Ferreira had lightning-fast reactions and volleyed the ball in off his shin. Ferreira scored the most goals in the Gold Cup, with seven. He tied Clint Dempsey in 2015 for the most goals scored by a U.S. player in a single confederation title.

At the end of extra time, the score was 1-1, so the USA had to go to a shootout for the first time in the history of the team. Orlando Mosquera, the goalie for Panama, stopped Jess Ferreira’s first shot after he had just tied the game. Turner was able to stop Cristian Martnez’s try, but when substitute Cristian Roldan’s kick was saved, the door was open for Panama to win. Carrasquilla sealed the victory with a well-placed shot in the sixth round of the shootout.

GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN

Ivan Anderson (Adalberto Carrasquilla), 99th minute: As both teams were getting tired and the game went into overtime, Anderson scored the game’s first goal. He ran at just the right time to stay onside, beat Matt Turner to the ball, and put it into an open net for his first goal for Panama. USA 0-PAN 1.

Jesus Ferreira (Jordan Morris), 105th minute: It was a long, hopeful pass from deep in middle, but Jordan Morris turned it into gold by getting up high and heading down into the path of Ferreira. With a looping shot into the far corner of the goal, the striker scored his seventh goal of the Gold Cup and 15th of his USMNT career. USA 1, PAN 1

OTHER NOTES: • For the first time in the team’s history, the USMNT played back-to-back games with extra time and shootouts. Jess Ferreira, James Sands, and Matt Turner were the only three players who played in both games for the full 120 minutes.

In the 105th minute, Jess Ferreira scored the tournament-leading seventh goal of the 2023 Gold Cup. This tied Clint Dempsey’s (2015) record for most goals scored by a U.S. player in a single confederation title. Ferreira’s 15th international goal tied him with Cobi Jones for 14th place on the all-time list of goals scored by the USMNT. Ferreira also scored his 12th goal in an official match, which tied him with Michael Bradley for 10th place among USMNT players.

• Jordan Morris gave Ferreira his ninth career assist, and it was his first since the 4-1 win against Canada on November 15, 2019 in Orlando. • Matt Turner made his 10th Gold Cup start, tying him with Tony Meola for third place among U.S. goalkeepers in the regional tournament. Turner also played in his eighth knockout round match, putting him alone in third place among USMNT goalkeepers. He moved past Meola to take that spot.

Turner stopped Cristian Martinez’s penalty kick in the shootout. This was the fifth time he saved a penalty kick for the USMNT. He has scored twice in normal time and three times in shootouts. James Sands is the sixth USMNT player to play in 11 straight Gold Cup games. The midfielder came off the bench in his first Gold Cup game against Haiti on July 11, 2021, but he has started each of his last 10 games. The average age of tonight’s starting lineup was 24 years and 202 days, making it the fifth youngest team the USMNT has used in a knockout round game. All 10 of the team’s youngest knockout round lines have been used since 2021. The average lineup has 16 caps and 11 official matches.

• Brandon Vazquez’s first Gold Cup race was in San Diego, where he lives.

Cade Cowell, who is 19 years and 271 days old, is the fourth-youngest player to start for the USMNT in a Gold Cup Knockout Round match. He comes after Juan Agudelo (18 years, 211 days, vs. Panama, June 22, 2011), Gianluca Busio (19 years, 58 days, vs. Jamaica, July 25, 2021), and George Bello (19 years, 191 days, vs. Mexico, August 1, 2021).

• Substitute DeAndre Yedlin made his 81st career start, which tied him with Desmond Armstrong, Thomas Dooley, and Tab Ramos for 27th place on the USMNT’s all-time list of caps. He is the present player pool’s player with the most caps.

The USMNT now has a record of 17-2-7 against Panama. The team is 13-2-7 in official games and 6-1-5 in Gold Cup games against Los Canaleros. The USMNT is 29-8-7 in the knockout round of the Gold Cup and 11-3-2 in playoff games.

• The USMNT now has a record of 5-3 in official shootouts.

– REPORT ON THE MATCH BETWEEN THE U.S. MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM AND PANAMA: U.S.

Match: Men’s National Team vs. Panama

The 12th of July, 2023

Semifinals of the 2023 Gold Cup

Venue: Snapdragon Stadium; San Diego, Calif.

Attendance: 31,690

Start time is 7:36 p.m. ET, or 4:36 p.m. local time.

The weather is slightly cloudy and 78 degrees.

Scoring Summary:	1	2	OT1	OT2	F	PK
USA	0	0	1	0	1	4
PAN	0	0	1	0	1	5

99th minute: Ivan Anderson (Adalberto Carrasquilla)

USA – Jesús Ferreira (Jordan Morris) 105 Penalty Kick Summary:

USA: Jess Ferreira (save), Djordje Mihailovic (goal), Jordan Morris (goal), Julian Gressel (goal), Matt Miazga (goal), Cristian Roldan (save).

PAN – Fidel Escobar (goal), Ismael Diaz (goal), Cristian Martinez (saved), Edgar Barcenas (goal), Cecilio Waterman (goal), Adalberto Carrasquilla (goal)

USA: 1-Matt Turner (captain), 5-Bryan Reynolds, 12-Miles Robinson, 2-DeAndre Yedlin (63), 3-Aaron Long, 4-Matt Miazga, 15-DeJuan Jones, 21-John Tolkin, 104; 6-Gianluca Busio, 8-James Sands, 14-Djordje Mihailovic; 9-Jess Ferreira, 19-Brandon Vazquez, 13-Jordan Morris, 74; 11-Cade Cowell, 10-Cristian Roldan, 63.

Not used as a substitute: 18, Gabriel Slonina, 23, Sean Johnson, 17-Alejandro Zendejas, 20-Jalen Neal, 24-Jackson Yueill

B.J. Callaghan is the head coach.

PAN: 22-Orlando Mosquera; 4-Fidel Escobar, Three-Harold Cummings, 16-Andres Andrade; 10-Edgar Barcenas, 8-Adalberto Carrasquilla, 20-Anibal Godoy (captain) (7-Jovani Welch, 102), 15-Eric Davis (25-Ivan Anderson, 90+1), 17-Jose Fajardo (6-Cristian Martinez, 79), 19-Alberto Quintero (18-Cecilio Waterman, 79), 11-Ismael Diaz.

Not used as a substitute: 1-Luis Mejia, 12-Cesar Samudio, 5-Roderick Miller, 9-Azarias Londoño, 13-Freddy Gondola, 14-Eduardo Anderson, 21-Cesar Yanis, 24-Omar Valencia

Thomas Christiansen is the head coach.

Summary of the Stats: USA / PAN

14/12 shots on goal. 3/5 shots on goal.

Saves: 4/2

Corners Kicks: 2 / 3

Fouls: 12 / 12

Offside: 1 / 4

Misconduct Summary:

USA – Miles Robinson (caution) 86th minute.

PAN – Anibal Godoy (caution) 101

Officials:

Referee: Walter Lopez (GUA) Assistant Referee 1: Keytzel Corrales (NCA) Assistant Referee 2: Raymundo Feliz (DOM)