The United States of America (USA) crashed out of the Copa America on Monday after a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay, while Panama sealed their place in the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Bolivia.
Hosts USA suffered a 2-1 defeat to Panama last week and went into Monday’s final Group C game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City needing to match or better Panama’s result against Bolivia to advance.
But USA coach Gregg Berhalter’s side never looked like doing enough to seriously threaten a well-drilled Uruguay who advanced to the last eight as group winners.
Berhalter said: “Just looking at the faces of the staff and the players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results.
“We know that we’re capable of more and in this tournament we didn’t show it. It’s really as simple as that. We should have done better.
“We’ll do a review and figure out what went wrong, why it went wrong, but it’s an empty feeling right now for sure.”
USA captain Christian Pulisic blamed a lack of attacking quality, saying: “We had a good start and brought a lot of energy, but just didn’t have enough quality.
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“We just couldn’t find a solution.”
Hopes of a great escape for Berhalter’s men faded inside the first 30 minutes as news filtered through that Panama had taken a 1-0 lead against Bolivia in Orlando.
USA hopes were revived early in the second half after Bolivia equalised, leaving the hosts on course for qualification, provided they continued to hold Uruguay.
The team’s optimism was punctured just moments later when Uruguay took the lead in controversial circumstances through Mathias Olivera in the 66th minute.
Ronald Araujo’s powerful header from Nicolas de la Cruz’s free-kick was parried away by USA goalkeeper Matt Turner, but only into the path of Olivera, who tucked away the rebound.
The mathematics of qualification looked even more bleak for the USA after news that Panama had scored again through Eduardo Guerrero to regain the lead at 2-1, and the final nail in the coffin came when Cesar Yanis added a third for Panama in stoppage time.
The USA’s first-round exit raises fresh questions about the future of Berhalter, who remains deeply unpopular among swathes of American fans.
Berhalter was only reappointed to the U.S. job in June last year following a hiatus after leading the team to the 2022 World Cup.
The nature of Monday’s early exit is certain to reignite debate about whether he is the best man to lead the United States into the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
Failure to defeat Uruguay, 14th in the latest FIFA rankings, extends Berhalter’s poor record against top 20 teams.
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