After winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup with its junior varsity two years ago, the United States failed to repeat.
Adalberto Carrasquilla converted the decisive penalty kick after Cristian Roldan was stopped in his attempt, and Panama beat the Americans 5-4 in a shootout following a 1-1 tie on Wednesday night to reach the CONCACAF Gold Cup final against Mexico.
“There’s a lot of learning lessons that we’re all going to take away as we now continue our preparation to the path of 2026,” U.S. interim coach B.J. Callaghan said, looking ahead to the Americans co-hosting the World Cup.
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“You had some older senior guys that had experience that we challenged to take on more leadership roles, mentorship roles, and that came out,” Callaghan said. “And then we had a group of young players, whether they are U-20 — had played at the U-20 — or Olympic age, and all striving to become part of that roster in 2026.”
Iván Anderson put No. 57 Panama ahead in the ninth minute of extra time with his first international goal, and Jesús Ferreira tied the score six minutes later for the 11th-ranked U.S.
Panama reached the final for the third time after losing to the U.S. in 2005 and 2013. Panama will play Mexico, an eight-time champion, on Sunday at Inglewood, California.
The U.S., a seven-time winner of the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean, failed to reach the final for the first time since losing a 2015 semifinal to Jamaica. The Americans have not won consecutive Gold Cups since 2005 and ’07.
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The game marked the finale of Callaghan, who led the U.S. to five wins, one loss and one draw as the Americans’ second interim coach this year. Gregg Berhalter returns for the Sept. 9 exhibition against Uzbekistan.
The U.S. had just 34% possession in the first half.
“The first half is my fault,” Callaghan said. “I didn’t set the team up the way they should have been set up.”
American Cade Cowell hit a post about 20 seconds in and that was the closest to a goal until Panama went ahead nine minutes into extra time.
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Carrasquilla played a through pass to Anderson, who was kept onside by DeAndre Yedlin. Anderson took a touch and played the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Matt Turner, then kicked the ball into the open net for his first international goal.
Turner, who saved two penalty kicks against Canada, was the only U.S. player on the field who saw extensive time at last year’s World Cup.
Ferreira scored six minutes later after Matt Miazga played a long pass to Jordan Morris, who headed the ball into the penalty area. Ferreira volleyed the ball with his right shin from 16 yards past the outstretched left hand of a diving Orlando Mosquera for his 15th international goal, his seventh of the tournament.
With the U.S. going first in the shootout, Ferreira was stopped by Mosquera.
Fidel Escobar and Ismael Díaz beat Turner, while Djordje Mihailovic and Morris were successful for the U.S. Turner dove to his left to stop Christian Martínez and Julian Gressel and Miazga converted around Édgar Bárcenas successful kick for Panama, leaving the U.S. ahead 4-3.
Cecilio Waterman tied the score with Panama’s fifth shot, Mosquera dove right to parry Roldan’s attempt and Carrasquilla put his shot inside Turner’s right post.
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