USA v PAN

Dom

over 9 years

The first half was a travesty. No composure on the ball, no ability to maintain possession, no threat on goal. The strange midfield selections seemed partly to blame, as there was a noticeable increase in quality following halftime subs. Bradley's second half was great; his late-arriving runs were giving Panama fits and on another day he could have had multiple goals and assists to his name. Guzan was also terrific yet again. Chandler and Alvarado reprised their respective disappointing performances from the Honduras match, although Chandler seemed a bit more comfortable with Yedlin hustling his ass off to provide cover in the second half. Alvarado just looks helpless when forced to deal with players taking him on. Not sure whether he just has slow feet or is overly concerned about fouling, but he get beat almost every single time, as if he's wearing concrete blocks for shoes. Brooks really wasn't to blame on the goal, and overall he had a pretty solid game. Disappointing to see him pick up another dumb yellow, as I would like to see how he fares playing next to Besler, Ream, Gonzalez, or even Evans.