U.S. Struggles to Beat Panama

The halftime whistle had sounded and the United States was leading Panama, 3-0, in their Olympic soccer qualifier at Estadio Tres de Marzo on Tuesday night.

So what did U.S. Coach Glen “Mooch” Myernick tell his players at the break?

“I said let’s let Panama score three more goals and make the score 3 to 3 and make an exciting finish for the people here in Guadalajara,” Myernick replied with only the hint of a smile. “They followed it to a T.”

He wasn’t being sarcastic, merely finding relief in humor after a nerve-wracking evening during which the U.S. team allowed its three-goal lead to vanish before salvaging a 4-3 victory on Bobby Convey’s second goal of the game.

Scary? No, just bizarre.

“It was one of the craziest games I think I’ve ever been a part of, especially in Olympic qualifying,” U.S. goalkeeper D.J. Countess said. “For us, quite frankly, it isn’t acceptable.”

The game was so filled with twists and turns that it made the several hundred fans on hand completely forget the dreadfully dull qualifying match the preceded it -- in which Honduras edged Canada, 1-0, on a 57th-minute goal by Emil Martinez.

Myernick had warned coming into the eight-nation tournament that will qualify two teams for Athens that the U.S. offense was far ahead of its defense.

“Since the inception of putting this team together,” he said, “we’ve known that the experience in this team is in the attack and that the inexperience is in the back, and tonight was a pretty clear demonstration of that. And if we have to win, 5-4, or 6-5, maybe that’s what we’ll do.”

The Canaleros, as Panama’s players are known, had not been expected to provide significant opposition. Panama is ranked 125th in the world, compared to 11th for the U.S., so a lopsided score was almost expected.

Coach Jose “Cheche” Hernandez’s team had first overcome Nicaragua and then St. Lucia to advance to the CONCACAF region’s final qualifying tournament. The U.S. was a far different opponent than either.

After the game, Hernandez was remarkably calm considering the range of emotions produced by the see-saw game.

“We lost with pride and dignity,” he said.

Indeed, Panama’s players were cheered off the field by the fans, moral victors after their stirring, albeit futile, comeback.

“I thought they showed a lot of character, and so congratulations to them,” Myernick said.

The U.S., meanwhile, left to scattered boos; the players were in a subdued mood afterward.

“We’re always happy to get three points, but I’m disappointed in the manner in which we did it,” Myernick said. “We can only get better from here. Our players are very disappointed in themselves in the locker room. I haven’t had to say a word to them, which is a good sign.

“There’s not a lot of time to concern ourselves or worry about what happened. The next game [against Canada on Thursday night] is now less than 48 hours away. We’ve got to look forward and not backward.”

It took the U.S. less than eight minutes to get its first goal, with Convey finding the back of the net with a shot that went in off the hand of Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.

The Americans continued to attack and doubled their lead when midfielder Kyle Beckerman finished a move begun by Landon Donovan.

Beckerman’s goal came in the 28th minute.

Two minutes later, it was 3-0 as Donovan struck, with DaMarcus Beasley this time being the provider.

At the other end, the U.S. back line of Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Chad Marshall and Zak Whitbread already was being stretched by Panama’s speedy and skillful forwards, a sign of trouble to come.

That trouble arrived in the second half as the Panamanians scored three goals in 16 minutes, two by Jose Luis Garces and one by Luis Henriquez.

It was left to Convey to salvage the victory with his other goal in the 80th minute.

“I think we need to do a lot better in the next game,” Convey said.

“We came out and scored three quick goals and [then] kind of sat back in the second half and they came out flying. We gave the ball away a little too much and they kept creating momentum with the goals they scored.

“We’re just happy we came out with the win in the end.”

The tournament continues tonight at Estadio Jalisco, where Costa Rica (1-0) plays Trinidad and Tobago (0-1), followed by Mexico (1-0) against Jamaica (0-1).