USA vs. Panama Preview: Nations League Semi-Finals

The Mauricio Pochettino era is off to a flying start for the USMNT. Since being named the US manager in September, the Argentine has been in charge for six games and won five of them. Of those five wins, the US scored multiple goals in four of them. And the one win where they didn’t score multiple goals was a game on the road in Jamaica, which saw Pochettino equal Gregg Berhalter’s number of CONCACAF road wins at one. But four of those six games were friendlies. The pair of games now facing the US are competitive fixtures in a tournament they have never not won. The Nations League semi-finals and final have been contested three times prior to this year and the USMNT has won all three of them. Can Mauricio Pochettino make it four for four?

In what has become a frustrating trend, the US roster already looks different than it did when it was announced. Antonee Robinson, Johnny Cardoso, and Auston Trusty have all withdrawn due to injuries and been replaced with Max Arfsten, Brian Gutierrez, and Jack McGlynn (who scored a great goal for the US in the January Camp against Venezuela). Fortunately, the rest of the roster has remained intact. Matt Turner, Zack Steffen, and Patrick Schulte are the goalkeepers. The back line consists of the ageless Tim Ream as well as other semi-regulars like Cameron Carter-Vickers, Chris Richards, Joe Scally, and Mark McKenzie. The midfield is strong with veterans like Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, and Gio Reyna plus Olympic veteran Tanner Tessman and January Camp standout Diego Luna. The pool of forwards may be missing the injured Ricardo Pepi but does include Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Patrick Agyemang and Brian White (who both performed well in January). Most interesting is the inclusion of Josh Sargent, who has been on a scoring teat with Norwich City in the English Championship, but hasn’t scored for the USMNT since 2019.

Despite having won five of six games since Mauricio Pochettino took over, there is still a feeling that the larger American sporting public has yet to really take notice of the USMNT. 2025 provides an excellent opportunity to launch themselves into the public discourse, should they perform well. First up is two Nations League games in LA. Then, they play a pair of June friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland in Hartford and Nashville respectively. Following those two friendlies is the bi-annual Gold Cup. The best-case scenario for the US is to win both trophies. That’s a maximum of ten games between the two competitions. With next year’s World Cup drawing ever closer, performing well now to get fans excited for the World Cup is of the utmost importance. They can take the first step towards accomplishing that goal against Panama.

Following their impressive showing at last year’s Copa America, Panama has hit a bit of a rough patch. Los Canaleros made it to the knockout rounds of Copa America (beating the US 2-1 in the second group stage game) before getting steamrolled by Colombia. Since then, they’ve only won once. They fell 2-0 to the US in Mauricio Pochettino’s first US game and the dropped a 2-1 result to Canada in Toronto. They qualified for the Nations League semi-finals with a two-leg series win over Costa Rica, winning in San Jose and drawing in Panama City. So far in 2025 they have lost an unofficial friendly to Peruvian club side Universitario and a regular friendly against Chile in Santiago. And through two games of the third round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, they are tied with Nicaragua atop Group D with six points, ahead of Guyana, Montserrat, and Belize. Manager Thomas Christiansen has called in a roster with plenty of international experience and players playing for a variety of clubs around the world. Goalkeeper Luis Mejia of Nacional in Uruguay has 53 caps. Defender Fidel Escobar plays for Saprissa in Costa Rica and has 84 appearances for his country. And midfielders Adalberto Carrasquilla of Pumas in Liga MX and Anibal Godoy of San Diego FC in MLS have 62 caps and a staggering 143 caps respectively.

When, Where

Date: Thursday, March 20, 2025

Venue: SoFi Stadium

City: Los Angeles, California

Time: 6pm CT

TV: Paramount+

All-Time Series

USA leads 18-3-7

Last Meeting

Date: Saturday, October 12, 2024

Venue: Q2 Stadium

City: Austin, Texas

Attendance: 20,239

Result: USA 2-0 Panama

FIFA Ranking

USA: 16

Panama: 36

Next Game

Date: Sunday, March 23, 2025

Competition: Nations League

Match-Up: USA vs. Mexico/Canada

Venue: SoFi Stadium

City: Los Angeles, California

Time: TBD

TV: Paramount+

Photo Credit: Visit California