Mauricio Pochettino’s first major test as coach of the men’s national team ended in disaster Thursday when Cecilio Waterman scored deep into stoppage time to give Panama a 1-0 victory in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals before a tiny crowd at SoFi Stadium, where the Americans will play two of their three group-play matches in next year’s 2026 World Cup.
The game marked the second time in seven games under Pochettino that the U.S. was held scoreless and the second time in less than a year that Panama has beaten the U.S. in a tournament. The Central Americans beat the U.S. 2-1 in last summer’s Copa América, a result that hastened former coach Gregg Berhalter’s firing.
Panama will play the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Mexico and Canada for the Nations League title on Sunday. The U.S., winner of the three previous Nations League tournaments, will play for third place against the loser.
Panama took a defensive posture from the start, playing with a five-man back line and crowding the midfield with four more, generating what little offense it produced on the counterattack.
And while that well-organized defense frustrated the U.S. for long stretches, the Americans still managed three dangerous chances in the first half, with Josh Sargent striking Panamanian defender Edgardo Fariña with a right-footed shot that caromed off the post in the 19th minute; Weston McKennie sending a header into the midsection of goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera a minute later; and Sargent losing a goal on a shot from the center of the box that beat Mosquera in the 24th minute because Tim Weah was well offside.
The game opened up a bit early in the second half with the best chance by either team coming in the 82nd minute when second-half substitute Patrick Agyemang beat the defense into the box with only Mosquera to beat. But the keeper came up big, pushing the right-footed shot away for his third save of the afternoon.
Four minutes later Agyemang was back, played into the box by Christian Pulisic. But the Charlotte FC striker got his feet tangled trying to get off a shot and chipped his try onto the top of the net.
That set the stage for Waterman’s game-winner deep into stoppage time. The winger, who plays club soccer in Chile, took a pass from Adalberto Carrasquilla in the box on the right wing and set a low well-paced shot across the front of the goal and in at the far post. The shot was Panama’s first on target in the game and U.S. keeper Matt Turner didn’t get a hand on it.
Thursday’s semifinal doubleheader was as much a test for the temporary grass carpet laid over SoFi’s synthetic Matrix Turf field as it was for the four national teams.
FIFA requires World Cup games to be played on natural surfaces and eight of the 16 stadiums that will be used in next year’s tournament have artificial fields. Those venues will have to install grass for the World Cup.
SoFi’s 70 x 110-meter field, grown at a sod farm in Washington state, was laid down in strips earlier this month and was used for the first time Thursday. The ersatz surface will remain in place for Sunday’s Nations League final and the third-place game as well as for a women’s friendly between the U.S. and Brazil next month.
Otto Benedict, the stadium’s senior vice-president for facility and campus operations and the person overseeing the project, will study the field’s performance with help from FIFA to ensure the surface will be able to hold up under the strain of eight World Cup games in 28 days.
“We are taking readings almost every single hour, if not more than that. We have systems in here that are looking at the ambient temperatures, the ambient moisture,” Benedict said of the multi-million-dollar process.
“It’s a learning opportunity. We want to put on the best possible event with the best possible pitch.”
SoFi is the 10th different venue the USMNT has played at in L.A. County, from a 1958 World Cup qualifier against Mexico at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach to a 2023 friendly against Serbia at BMO Stadium. The U.S. played at four venues in Orange County, including Titan Stadium on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, the site of eight matches.