On Sunday afternoon the United States men's national team geared up for an international friendly matchup against Panama. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. finally got the results they wanted after a long drought.
Just over a week ago the United States lost their first matchup of 2015 when they fell to Chile 2-1 after getting out to an early lead. The team rebounded on Sunday when they defeated Panama by the score of 2-0 thanks to goals from Michael Bradley (27') and Clint Dempsey (37'). Klinsmann experimented with a 4-2-3-1 formation in the matchup and played Jozy Altidore up front.
Altidore was active in the first half, but didn't play the second half because of hamstring soreness. Bradley scored the game's first goal when he put a corner kick in the back of the net on the far post. Altidore nearly got a piece of it, but the ball bent perfectly out of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo's reach and put the U.S. on the board.
The second goal came shortly thereafter when midfielder Gyasi Zardes delivered a spectacular through ball to lead Dempsey down the middle of the field and past Panama's defense. Dempsey sidestepped the charging Penedo and poked the ball into the back of the net for his 40th career international goal. The U.S. gave themselves some breathing room heading into the second half, which has proved to big a big issue of theirs for the past year.
Despite their recent woes, the United States' defense held Panama to only six shots (one on goal) and helped the team earn their first win and shutout since September 3, when they defeated Czech Republic 1-0. Heading into today, the U.S. was just 1-5-3 since defeating Ghana in their opening World Cup match.
Klinsmann made six substitutions and sent on striker Chris Wondolowski for Altidore (45'), keeper Sean Johnson for Nick Rimando, defenders Matt Hedges and Perry Kitchen on for DeAndre Yedlin and Mix Diskerud (72'), midfielder Lee Nguyen for Miguel Ibarra (79'), and striker Luis Gil for Dempsey (81').
The next matchups for the United States will be against Denmark on March 25 and Switzerland on March 31.
