KANSAS CITY, Kan.—On one level this was a meaningless game for the United States men's national team, having already clinched first place in Group A of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

But the Americans aspire to more than just winning their group and they wanted desperately to use this game against a hungry Panama side to improve their shaky form as they head into the tournament’s knockout stages.

Instead, the Yanks played sloppy, fell behind, and had to rally for a 1-1 draw before a sold-out crowd of 18,467 at Sporting Park. Panama finished third in the group and will have to wait to see if it advances to the next stage of the tournament. 

Michael Bradley scored the tying goal for the U.S. in the 55th minute to help the U.S. avoid its second loss in group play in Gold Cup history. Still, the tie is just the fourth time the U.S. failed to win a group stage match in the Gold Cup—with the last one a loss to Panama in 2011.

Another look at Panama's goal with a freeze frame on the possible offside call. #USAvPAN #GoldCup pic.twitter.com/YpaXzQLrWr

— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) July 14, 2015

The U.S., which came into the tournament brimming with confidence after four straight wins over the likes of Mexico and Germany, now limps into Saturday’s quarterfinal against a yet-to-be-decided opponent having played three straight shaky games where the team was fortunate to get the results it did. 

That’s a concern for a team that is hoping to claim its second straight Gold Cup and a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. While the U.S. is getting results, it will be hard-pressed to continue to do so in this tournament if its form doesn’t improve. Dramatically.

While not a factor in the Panama goal, the U.S. was frustrated most of the first half with the officiating as seemingly most of the 50-50 calls failed to go the Americans’ way and several times U.S. players ended up on the turf only to see Mexican official Roberto Garcia swallow his whistle. 

The most egregious non-call occurred in the 41st minute after Alejandro Bedoya got behind the Panamanian defense and was clipped by Panama’s Harold Cumming at the edge of the penalty box. The partisan crowd in Kansas City expected a call. It did not receive one.

GOAL USA! Michael Bradley. 1-1. #USAvPAN #GoldCup pic.twitter.com/97HA978IiP

— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) July 14, 2015

Adding to the frustration for the U.S. were the circumstances that led to Garcia calling the match. He was originally assigned by CONCACAF to work the middle in the first game of tonight’s doubleheader—which Haiti won, 1-0, over Honduaras—with El Salvador’s Joel Aguilar working the nightcap.

However, Aguilar and his crew had worked Panama’s previous game with Honduras and Panama coach Herman Dario Gomez was not pleased with his work and protested. Late last night the decision was made to switch the referee assignments. 

A CONCACAF spokesmen claimed the assignment switch had nothing to do with Gomez’ protestations, but then again, CONCACAF also claimed Jeffrey Webb was a reformer and the current CONCACAF boss is now sitting in a Swiss jail on corruption charges. 

While Garcia’s dubious calls were frustrating, they aren’t the primary reason the U.S. failed to win. That was all on the U.S. players and coaches.

The U.S. consistently thwarted its own attacks with sloppy and erratic passes and conceded far too much possession in the first half.

While sloppy play is on the players, the lineup choices were on Klinsmann, who started Chris Wondolowski at forward despite Aron Johannsson coming off a strong performance against Haiti; started Ventura Alvarado, who struggled against Honduras, at center back even though Omar Gonzalez had been strong against Haiti; and gave Alfredo Morales, normally a holding midfielder, his first minutes of the tournament as the wide point of the U.S. midfield diamond.

Those decisions backfired as Wondolowski and Morales offered little to help the attack while an Alvarado gaffe led to the Panama goal in the 34th minute.

In just his eight cap, the 22-year-old Alvarado let Panama’s Luis Tejada get behind him to catch up to a through ball in the box. Replays showed Tejada may have been a smidge offside but it was a bang-bang play and Alvarado was slow to read it.

He compounded matters when he allowed Tejada to spin off him on the right side of the box and then find a wide open Blas Perez. Why the FC Dallas all-star had so much space was probably because John Brooks somehow forgot to mark him, and Perez calmly finished past Brad Guzan, who had little chance.

One lineup choice Klinsmann got right was giving Bedoya his first minutes of the tournament after the midfielder missed two months with a knee injury. The Nantes talisman was active, creating the best U.S. scoring chance in the first half. He was denied a free kick after a dubious no call late in the first then hit a perfect cross to Bradley after a series of nice short passes by Gyasi Zardes and halftime sub Clint Dempsey.

The U.S. played better in the second half but little to create bona fide scoring chances and had to settle for the draw and raising all sorts of alarms and questions about this team’s ability to put away supposedly lesser teams and raising doubts about just how much progress the program has made since Klinsmann took over four years ago.

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.