Bruised but not out, Panama defeats US

UNDETERRED, or pehaps motivated by the referee assisted loss to Mexico in the semi-finals of the Concacaf Gold Cup, Panama, minus two of its star players, defeated the United States on Saturday July 25 to win the consolation match.

The victory took the sting out of Panama’s controversial loss to Mexico nals in a game that included a number of questionable decisions by American referee Mark Geiger. Regional soccer body Concacaf released a statement after the game saying Geiger admitted to making mistakes that “affected the outcome of the game.”

The game was tied 1-1 after 120 minutes. Panama won the penalty kick shootout 3-2.
Roberto Nurse scored in the 54th minute to give Panama the lead, but Clint Dempsey equalized for the Americans 15 minutes later.
Panama dominated the game, outshooting the U.S. squad by a substantial margin, but could not find the net with a game winner..
Panama’s penalties were scored by Roman Torres, Harold Cummings and Abdiel Arroyo. Armando Cooper failed on his attempt.
Panama goalkeeper Luis Manotas Mejia saved two penalties and saw the U.S. miss another. Mejía was filling in for a suspended Jaime Penedo, the hero of their quarter final victory.
Coach Hernán Darío Gómez said he was proud of the team’s effort.
The Concacaf disciplinary commission suspended Penedo for two games and fined the Panama Soccer Federation $15,000 for comments made about the officiating in its 2-1 loss to Mexico on Wednesday
Panama, playing with 10 men was leading 1-0 in the final minute of the game when Mexico was awarded a disputed penalty, which tied the game. They were then awarded a second penalty in extra time. Panama also had to play much of the game down a man due to a questionable ejection by the American referee,.
Penedo was banned for comments he made after the game, while the team was fined for holding a banner that read “Concacaf, corrupt thieves.”
Panama will appeal both sanctions.
Panama was also e without Luis Tejada, the player who was ejected Wednesday, and Valentín Pimentel, who has accumulated two yellow cards.