The Los Canaleros of Panama staged a dramatic comeback in their second game of the 2024 Copa America after they beat the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) 2-1 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, despite being a man down.
In front of 59,145 fans, the USMNT made an early statement when Juventus midfielder Weston Mckennie unleashed a fine shot inside the box to beat Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera to make the scoreline 1-0 in the 5th minute of the game.
The USMNT had scored early as they did in their first game against Bolivia.
However, this time round, referee Ivan Barton -who was at the thick of proceedings throughout the game- had been called up by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) team to review a foul in the build-up to the goal.
He went to the monitor to take a look at the incident, ruling the apparent first goal of the game out for offside against the USMNT.
In the 16th minute of the game, Timothy Weah was booked for shoving a Panama player as he received a yellow card for his troubles – without any hesitation from referee Ivan Barton.
Once again, the referee went to review the incident but, this time, he rescinded his on-field decision, flashing out a straight red card to Timothy Weah. The USMNT played the remainder of the game with a man down.
Just after the red card was shown, the USMNT maintained their composure as they scored the first goal in the 22nd minute when Folarun Balogun unleashed a shot outside the penalty box which went off the inside of the right post.
Four minutes later, Panama scored. Cesar Blackman’s ferocious drive from distance went straight to the left side of the goal as Panama utilized the man advantage to draw level and move into the interval with their tails up.
Panama, who leveraged on their numerical advantage, piled pressure on their opponents in the second half in search of an elusive second goal.
Referee Ivan Barton awarded two penalty kicks in quick succession to Los Canaleros, but both decisions were overturned due to the timely intervention of the VAR.
Jose Fajardo Nelson broke the hearts of the Americans in the 83rd minute when he scored the second goal for Panama after his strike went past Matt Turner. Adarbelto Eliecer Carrasquilla Alcazar of Panama was shown a red card for a nasty tackle on an opponent in the 89th minute.
Panama won and dominated the game with 69% of the ball against 31% of the USA. Panama now have 3 points, sitting below Uruguay (6 points) and the USA (3 points).
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Story by: David Kwaku Dzaku|univers.ug.edu.gh
