I can't sit here and pretend that I'm proud of what I did this evening. Yes folks, I wasted two hours of my life sitting at a computer, watching the U.S. men's B squad take on Panama's B squad on ESPN3.com.
After watching Liverpool-Manchester City in the Carling Cup and Real Madrid-Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey earlier today, this nightcap felt like drinking a warm 40 of Steel Reserve after a day filled with Guinness and Hoegaarden, but I digress.
All you need to know is that the U.S. won 1-0 in Panama City for Jurgen Klinsmann's third straight win (4-4-1 overall since taking over last summer).
In his second CAP, midfielder Graham Zusi scored his first international goal while goalkeepers Nick Rimando and Sean Johnson (not the former U.S. gymnast) split halves and the shutout.
Don't ask me how a full U.S. squad lost 1-0 to Panama last summer in the first round of the Gold Cup because from what I saw tonight, Panama is awful. They had way more chances than the U.S. and led 6-1 in corner kicks. What's more, U.S. defender (and URI alum) Geoff Cameron was sent off in the 51st minute after a bogus red card for taking down Panama's Blas Perez on a breakaway (outside the box).
I'll give props to the Americans for holding the fort on the road while they played with 10 men as the U.S. improved to 2-0-1 all-time in Mariano Rivera's native land.
From the start, all signs pointed to this being a joke of a game. You'd figure Panama doesn't have too many big events like this yet the stadium was half-full. At least Panama's head coach dressed up like he was going to dinner on a cruise-wearing black pants with a belt and a green polo shirt. The commentators were Taylor Twellman and Ricardo Ortiz, an underwhelming duo if I've ever heard one. Just a very strange night all around.
Zusi got in the board early as he followed up Zach Loyd's cross and deflection off Teal Bunbury to slot it home in the upper corner.
Rimando doesn't look very athletic on first glance but he was scrambling around in the first half and he made some nice saves.
The only other real chance for the U.S. was in the 30th minute as Jones unleashed a blast from distance but Panama's goalkeeper Luis Meija dove to stop it then somehow dove again to keep Chris Wondolowski's follow up header out of the net. I'd guess that if anyone in Bristol, CT was paying attention, that will be in Sportscenter's Top 10 plays this evening.
Jones picked up a yellow card on a challenge that was physical but not cardworthy. I fear that he earned it simply on his growing bad reputation, which is not a good thing.
More than anything, this international friendly was about getting young guys experience in tough (kind of) environments. On Saturday vs. Venezuela, Hamid, Sapong, Zusi and Delagarza all appeared in their first U.S. match.
Delagarza got a yellow after dribbling back towards his own goal for a while then trying to turn, losing the ball and then taking down his man. Ugly.
Brek Shea played in his ninth match for Klinsmann, the only player that has done that but you'd be hard-pressed to find any highlights from him in this one. He was a ghost, albeit a ghost with that awful haircut.
Panama completely bungled a couple easy chances late in the game. A header off a cross went inches wide and a shot from in close inexplicably went wide. Bottom line, if the U.S. was facing a real opponent, they would have lost.
All I know is that the next U.S. men's match is February 29 in Italy and it is going to be like night and day compared to this snoozefest. All the big guns from European clubs should be there, relegating most of these MLS All-Stars to the bench or better yet, back home where they belong. U.S. vs. Italy will be great, in fact I might try to sleep until then.
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