USA vs. Panama: Score, Grades and Reaction for 2015 Gold Cup

The United States and Panama played to a 1-1 draw at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, on Monday night to close out Group A play at the 2015 Gold Cup.

Blas Perez put Panama ahead in the 34th minute, while Michael Bradley's equalizer in the 55th minute preserved a point for the United States.

Coming into the match, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann was in a bit of a tricky position since his squad had already secured first place in Group A.

On one hand, Monday's fixture could be the perfect time to experiment a bit with the lineup and tactics. With nothing at stake, why not make some changes and see if something works? It's not like the United States has looked entirely convincing in the Gold Cup anyway.

On the other hand, at what point does the experimentation hurt the continuity Klinsmann is trying to build with his preferred starting 11? It would help to go into the quarterfinals with some sort of positive momentum beyond simply doing just enough to progress.

Klinsmann didn't really tip his hand one way or the other in the pre-match buildup. Instead, he stuck to broad platitudes about how the United States wasn't going to take Panama lightly.

"We want to finish off the group in the right way, and that means three points," he said, per Andrew Wiebe of MLSSoccer.com. "...We know Panama is under pressure to get a result, at least a tie, and probably they need a win. Knowing that, it's going to be another grind. It's going to be another fight. We are ready for it."

One look at the lineup against Panama, courtesy of U.S. Soccer, and you knew Klinsmann had opted for the experimental approach:

As a result, the United States put together arguably its worst half of the Gold Cup so far and fell behind 1-0 heading into the dressing room.

The central defense pairing of John Brooks and Ventura Alvarado was particularly weak in the first 45 minutes, as the two didn't look to be on the same page at all. Timothy Chandler also did little to inspire much confidence among fans regarding his status as a national team regular.

The U.S. chose to sit back early on, which allowed Panama to apply even more pressure to the inexperienced/inconsistent American back line.

Brooks was at fault for Panama's goal in the 34th minute. The Hertha Berlin center back was caught ball-watching and completely lost track of Perez, who had an easy finish off of a nice assist from Luis Tejada (via Fox Soccer):

Goal.com's Seth Vertelney stated the obvious:

MLSSoccer.com's Matthew Doyle chose to look at the silver lining after Perez's goal:

Going down 1-0 did indeed force the Americans to wake up a bit from their slumber. They put together their best attack of the match in the 41st minute. Chris Wondolowski floated a great ball over the top of the Panamanian defense to Alejandro Bedoya. As he was running on goal, Bedoya was brought down on the edge of the box from behind, but the referee chose not to whistle for a foul.

Soccer writer Leander Schaerlaeckens bemoaned the official's overall indecision:

Despite Bedoya's brief flash, the Americans were otherwise toothless in their attack and deserved to be down a goal at halftime.

The strongest indictment of their performance was Klinsmann's decision to use two of his three subs at the start of the second half. On came Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin in an effort to spark something in the attack.

The U.S. needed to wait until only the 55th to find an equalizer. Bedoya delivered a nice pass to Bradley, who scored from close range:

Give Klinsmann a little bit of credit for the goal as well since Dempsey's one-two with Gyasi Zardes kept the attacking move alive, and Dempsey's sublime pass to Bedoya directly preceded the goal.

Soccer writer Charles Boehm believes Dempsey's on-field intelligence is proving to be invaluable to his game at this stage in his career:

After the United States tied the match, both teams desperately searched for a winner. Panama wanted the three points to guarantee a place in the quarterfinals, while the U.S. didn't want to settle for a draw against a CONCACAF opponent on home soil.

That anxiety made for a rather exciting final half-hour.

Panama was inches away from going ahead in the 75th minute, but Brad Guzan somehow got a hand to Miguel Camargo's close-range shot:

After some frantic end-to-end play, the referee blew his whistle to end the proceedings. To say a match was a "game of two halves" is both cliched and banal, but there might not be a better way to describe this result.

Panama was the stronger side in the first half, while Klinsmann's changes helped turn the tide in the second, giving the advantage to the U.S. The scoreline perfectly depicts how Monday's match unfolded.

Looking at it from an American perspective, it's yet another somewhat lackluster result after two uninspiring wins to start the group stage. Whatever concerns U.S. supporters had going into the game weren't exactly resolved at the end of the 90 minutes.

Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl tried to put everything in perspective by alluding to the U.S. women's national team's eventual victory in the 2015 Women's World Cup:

The Americans don't know their quarterfinal opponent just yet. They'll play the third-place finisher in either Group B or Group C on Saturday in Baltimore.

The Panamanians will have to wait to learn their tournament fate. Their three points might be enough to get them through to the quarterfinals. They'll need an El Salvador loss or a defeat or draw from Guatemala to advance. 

Player Grades

Player	Grade
Brad Guzan	B
John Brooks	C
Ventura Alvarado	C+
Timothy Chandler	C-
Fabian Johnson	B-
Michael Bradley	B+
Kyle Beckerman	C+
Alfredo Morales	C-
Alejandro Bedoya	B-
Chris Wondolowski	C+
Gyasi Zardes	C+
Substitutes
Clint Dempsey (on 45')	B-
DeAndre Yedlin (on 45')	C+
Aron Johannsson (on 71')	C

Player	Grade
Jaime Penedo	C+
Harold Cummings	B-
Roman Torres	C+
Armando Cooper	C+
Erick Davis	B-
Valentin Pimentel	C
Gabriel Gomez	C+
Alberto Quintero	C
Anibal Godoy	C+
Blas Perez	B
Luis Tejada	B-
Substitutes
Miguel Camargo (on 62')	C+
Roberto Nurse (on 71')	C
Abdiel Arroyo (on 86')	INC