Gold Cup Preview: United States vs. Panama

By Noah Davis

Who: United States vs. Panama
What: Gold Cup quarterfinals
When: 8 pm ET, Saturday, July 18
Where: Lincoln Financial Field; Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura

After going undefeated during group play of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the United States Men's National Team drew Panama as its quarterfinal opponent. The squads will play on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The Red Tide, which earned the last spot in the quarterfinals thanks to a 4-0 victory over Nicaragua in its third match of group play, battled the Americans to a 0-0 draw in the final of the 2005 competition, before falling in penalty kicks. (The teams have played two additional times in the Gold Cup, with the U.S. winning both matches in regulation.) The winning streak should continue as Bob Bradley's team, despite being short-handed, advance to the semifinals of the regional championship.

Europe Calls

Four American players -- Charlie Davies, Steve Cherundolo, Michael Parkhurst, and Freddy Adu -- have flown across the Pond and returned to their club sides, leaving Bradley with just 18 of his original 23-man roster. (Jon Busch is available but not with the team.) The coach can call any of his seven reserve players -- although Benny Feilhaber, who played in the first group play game, also went back to his club team -- but reports indicate that he won't exercise this option for the quarterfinal match. Clarence Goodson, who missed the match against Honduras with an injury but was on the bench for the Haiti game, should return, and give the middle of the American defense a lift.

Goals Aplenty

The U.S. team is an offensive machine, leading the first round with eight goals scored. (Panama, for its part, finished in second place with six.) While the defenses it battled weren't world class -- no offense to Grenada, but I imagine most Major League Soccer teams could get a goal or two against the Spice Boyz -- the Stars and Stripes showed they can score in a number of ways. Panama will be hard pressed to deal with the increasing effectiveness of Stuart Holden, Robbie Rogers, and Santino Quaranta, especially if Davy Arnaud can match the work rate he showed against Haiti. With Troy Perkins back in net for the U.S., the defense should post another clean sheet. 

Another Shocking Result?

After an opening match loss to Guadeloupe and a chaotic, red card-filled draw with Mexico, Panama turned up the pressure and defeated Group C whipping boy Nicaragua 4-0 to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals. Gary Stempel will get Armando Gun and Ricardo Phillips -- both sent off against El Tri -- back and will hope that Luis Tejada, who had two late strikes against Nicaragua, can inject some offense into the match (although he probably will continue to come off the bench). Netminder Jaime Penedo will be under attack all day long from the U.S. attack, and he'll need an excellent performance between the pipes if Panama hopes to post another impressive Gold Cup result. Unfortunately, it looks as though the road ends here for the 2005 runner-up. 

Projected U.S. Line Up

-------------------Perkins------------------

Evans----Goodson---Marshall----Pearce

Quaranta--Holden--Beckerman--Rogers

-----------Ching---------Arnaud-----------

Projected Panama Line Up

------------------Penedo------------------

Moreno-----Torres-----Baloy-----Gun

Gomez--Henriquez--Phillips--Escobar

----------Garces----------Perez----------

Goal.com Prediction

United States 2-0 Panama

Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.

Visit Goal.com for more coverage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.