A late stunner from Brooklyn Raines gave Michael Nsien’s men the narrow edge over Panama on Friday night, sending the US through to a fourth straight final in the regional U-20 championship.
Even though the program’s long shut-out streak in this competition, which extended all the way back to the second group game of the 2022 edition, was finally ended thanks to a late penalty conversion by Panama’s only US-based player, Rafael Mosquera, a moment of brilliance from the 19 year-old midfielder Raines was enough to avoid any overtime drama, and set up a final against Mexico.
While leaving his back-line mostly unchanged from the quarterfinal win over Guatemala three days before, only replacing right back Aiden Harangi with Ethan Kohler, Nsien did make three changes as well as a slight tactical shift to the midfield and attack.
In addition to switching back to a classic 4-4-2 formation from the start, he also brought David Vazquez back into the XI alongside Ruben Ramos as the front two, and also gave Nikolas Tsakiris and Sergio Oregel Jr. the start in the four-man midfield, along with Taha Habroune and Pedro Soma, both of whom also started the prior game.
Highlights of the game can be seen here.
The Panamanians were the more dangerous of the two teams in the early going, with the Americans having to survive a barrage of chances in the opening few minutes. Keeper Adam Beaudry was called into action early, making the first of his five saves in the game within the first three minutes.
The game slowly evened out, and it was the Americans who struck first shortly before the halftime break. A slick display of passing ended up with Tsakiris receiving the ball near the right sideline from Habroune. The San Jose player barely beat his marking defender to the endline, and fired a sharp cross from near the corner flag towards the top edge of the six-yard box.
Vazquez was closely marked by Aimar Modelo, but had just enough space to extend his left leg barely in front of the defender, and divert the ball over the line with the outside of his foot to give the Americans the 1-0 lead.
Panama were able to equalise with just under 20 minutes left in regulation, thanks to a rare mistake from Soma. On a 70th-minute corner kick, an attempted header by Julio Rodríguez bounced directly into Soma’s outstretched arm. While entirely unintentional, Costa Rican referee David Gómez correctly pointed to the spot, handing Panama a lifeline.
Mosquera, who plays for the developmental team of MLS club New York Red Bulls, placed his shot to the right side, with Beaudry guessing incorrectly and diving in the opposite direction.
With the game winding down to what looked to be a gruelling overtime contest, the early second-half substitute Raines, gave the team an early night off. A probing cross from Cruz Medina from the left flank towards the far side of the area was eventually cleared by a fairly impressive overhead kick from a Panamian defender.
The looping clearance, however, landed at the foot of Raines, who was lurking around 25 yards from goal on the right side. The Houston Dynamo player took one touch to settle the ball, then sent a spectacular looping shot to the left side of goal, that took a bounce off the underside of the crossbar before crossing the line.
In the ensuing minutes, the Americans kept up the pressure and were the more likely of the two teams to score, however the final whistle after five minutes of added time confirmed the 2-1 scoreline.
The team has nearly no time to rest as they will face Mexico already on Sunday, with the game kicking off 48 hours after the semifinal. The Mexicans beat surprise semifinalists Cuba by a 2-0 margin in their semifinal later in the evening.
According to the application of the mathematical transitive property to soccer, which clearly has no logical flaws whatsoever and should always be used to predict outcomes, the 4-0 win by the US over Cuba in their second group-stage game means that fans should feel completely comfortable betting the house on yet another dos-a-cero victory for the Americans.
(Disclaimer: Yanks Abroad does not claim to be an expert voice in betting recommendations or the application of complex mathematical models to sports…however…if the final score is 2-0, then we told you so, suckers)
