PANAMÁ vs USA | COPA AMÉRICA USA 2024 | Post Match

A first-half red card to Timothy Weah and an injury to goalkeeper Matt Tuner proved too much for the United States to overcome in a 2-1 loss to Panama at the Copa América on Thursday in Atlanta.

José Fajardo scored the decisive goal in the 83rd minute for Panama after a wild scramble in front of the U.S. goal, and Adalberto Carrasquilla was also sent off for a reckless tackle on Christian Pulisic in a game that left both teams on three points after two games. 

A chaotic opening 20 minutes saw the U.S. seemingly take the lead through Weston Mckennie, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside, before Weah was sent off with a straight red card for hitting Panama's Roderic miller in the head, a decision met by groans by the pro-American crowd of 59,145 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Despite losing a man, the U.S. took the lead shortly after Weah's dismissal when Folarin Balogun scored with a sublime left-footed strike from distance.

Panama hit right back, though, as the ball fell kindly to César Blackman at the top of the area and his low shot took a slight deflection and beat Turner to make it 1-1.

Ethan Horvath came on for Turner at halftime, as the U.S. No. 1 could not continue after being on the receiving end of a hard foul in the first half. The Cardiff City keeper was immediately tested with a swerving knuckleball that he parried away to keep the score level.

The U.S. benefited from a VAR call midway through the second half after Cameron Carter-Vickers was whistled for a penalty in the area, but the call was overturned following a video review and the score stayed level.

In all, there were five yellow cards and two reds given over the course of the match.