Panama beat the United States 5-4 on penalties in the Gold Cup semi-finals at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Wednesday night.
Jesus Ferreira canceled out Ivan Anderson’s strike in extra time for Panama to send the game to penalties with the tie 1-1 and Thomas Christiansen’s side won it from the penalty spot to hand interim US coach BJ Callahan his first loss since taking over the national team.
“There are a lot of learning lessons that we will all benefit from as we now continue to prepare for the path of 2026,” Callahan said, looking forward to the Americans’ co-hosting of the World Cup.
“You had some very old seniors who had the experience that challenged us to take on more leadership roles, mentoring roles, and it showed. And then we had a group of young players, whether they were U20–we played in the U20—or age Olympic, and everyone is striving to be part of that list in 2026.”
The USA started strongly and hit the post through Cady Coyle in the first minutes, but it was Panama that looked better as they took advantage of the visiting half with a goal ruled out for offside, as the match began tied 0-0. .
The United States had only 34% possession in the first half.
“The first half is my fault,” Callahan said of the US having only 34% in the first 45 minutes. “I didn’t build the team the way it should have been.”
Play leveled in the second half, Brandon Vazquez volleyed over the bar from Coyle’s strike in the 52nd minute before Ismail Diaz’s header from close range was deflected away by Matt Turner.
In extra time, Anderson put Panama ahead with a clever move to beat Turner near the top of the area before finishing an empty net, but Ferreira added to his Gold Cup tally going ahead with a powerful shot from a Jordan Morris header. Again across the box to tie the match in each.
Orlando Mosquera saved a penalty from U.S. Soccer’s Cristian Roldan before Adalberto Carrasquilla beat Turner’s penalty in a sudden death penalty shootout to send Panama to their third Gold Cup final in the country’s history.
Panama will play Mexico after the El Tri beat Jamaica at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
It looked similar to the USA vs. Canada quarter-final game on Sunday when the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead in overtime before the Americans got the equalizer and won on penalties with Turner making two saves.
This was the first time the USMNT had gone to overtime in consecutive games, and they had not played overtime twice in the same tournament.
The United States dodged a potential penalty kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time when a video review determined that Djordje Mihajlovic had not committed a handball.
