Tim Weah's reckless red cancels out brilliant Folarin Balogun, leaving USMNT teetering: Winners & Losers in Copa America loss to Panama

Inexcusable. There's no other way to look at it. Sometimes, red cards happen within the flow of the game, but this? As dumb as it gets.

Weah is a veteran so he'll know how big of a mistake this was. This also was totally out of character. Weah is normally the calming presence, the most relaxed guy in the room. He never loses his cool but, in this massive moment, he did.

"It's a shame because there was more in this game," Gregg Berhatler said, "and a silly decision by Timmy leaves us shorthanded."

Panama's only real hope in this game was to provoke a reaction from the U.S., and Weah reacted in the worst way imaginable. You simply can't swing your arms near an opponent's head. Intentional or unintentional, you put yourself at the mercy of the referee.

In this case, there was no doubt. Weah's movement looked more like a jab than a swing, leaving the referee with a relatively easy decision. Weah was off, leaving his teammates to suffer for his moment of madness.

Now, the whole tournament is at risk. This summer is a legacy-defining one for many of these USMNT stars, and that is now being threatened due to one swing of the arm.

There are no doubts anymore: Balogun is the guy. He was the USMNT's bright spot on Thursday but, unfortunately for him, he was let down in a big way.

Moments after Weah's red, Balogun stepped up and into the moment. In any situation, his rocket of a finish would be massive. Considering the state of the game, it felt tournament-defining. It was exactly the response the U.S. needed. Surely, they'd calm down a bit and bring order to the match.

Nope. Four minutes later, the USMNT gave it away. Balogun, though, didn't stop pushing. He hit the bar later in the match and threatened throughout with his pace. It wasn't to be for the USMNT, but Balogun couldn't have done much more.

They'll need him going forward, particularly given the challenges ahead. Balogun looks like a player for big moments after being one of the few to really embrace the challenge at hand on against Panama.

The goal of every match referee is to not be noticed but, by halftime, nearly everyone watching Thursday's match hadn't just noticed Barton, they knew him by name.

Barton has a reputation for being yellow-card-happy, but it was quite clear from the start that he was going to struggle to control this match. It all began when U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner was clattered early in the game. Barton opted not to show a card and, from there, it spiraled out of control.

Weah's red card is the winger's fault and his alone, but there's also something to be said about a referee ensuring that players don't reach that level of frustration with physicality. It was still so early, but the match was already getting ugly, and that's down to the referee.

"We talked beforehand about the tendencies of this referee," Berhalter said. "We knew what he's capable of and to be honest I think we played right into his hands."

It didn't get much better from there. Barton was inconsistent with his whistle and his cards, drawing the ire of the American crowd. By the end, the game turned into a brawl of sorts, with Panama earning several cards, headlined by a red card to Coco Carasquilla for a horrific tackle on Christian Pulisic.

"Toward the end, it got a bit silly," Balogun told FOX Sports postgame. "I mean, It’s obviously the referee’s job to manage the match. You can’t control that, but I didn’t think the way the game was finished was in a professional manner."

Overall, this wasn't the refereeing performance that this game needed. This was always going to be a CONCACAF cage match, and Barton simply wasn't equipped to handle it.

Talk about executing a gameplan.

Panama knew exactly what it would take to win on Thursday. They were underdogs as they so often are against the USMNT. However, in recent years, this program has learned how to thrive in that role, having repeatedly lured the USMNT into their traps in big games.

They laid their trap early in this one, baiting Weah into his red. From that moment, they had the U.S. right where they wanted them. Up a man and with a bit more spring in their step, Panama knew they had a chance. They had to earn it, but their opportunity had arrived.

Ultimately, Panama seized it and, once they did, they made sure the USMNT couldn't wrestle it back. Did they make it ugly to seal the win? Yes. Did it borderline on dirty? A bit. Was it effective, though? Hell yeah.

Now, Panama will be the favorite to escape this group. A win over Bolivia would be enough to see them through. Few would have seen this coming outside of Panama but their ability to grind out this win has them on their way.

Credit for trying to shake it off and play on. It was an ugly collision, one that many would not have gotten up from. Turner did. He got up and fought on, at least for the rest of the half. In the end, though, the pain was seemingly too much.

The USMNT No. 1 goalkeeper was forced out of the game after 45 minutes, but not before conceding an equalizing goal to Panama moments after Balogun's opener. So much went wrong on the play. The U.S. gave the ball away. Chris Richards failed to block. Turner, meanwhile, couldn't quite get his hand to it.

It's speculation, of course, but would a healthy Turner have been able to reach Blackmon's shot in the second half? Only he will really know. That moment is gone, but there are now questions about what happens going forward.

Will Turner be healthy enough to start against Uruguay? It's a huge question. Heading into that game without the starting goalkeeper would be a huge blow for this U.S. group. All involved will now be monitoriing Turner's status as he heads into one of the biggest games of his career.

In the leadup to the Copa America, the USMNT spoke about how results mattered. They spoke about wanting to beat a world-class team in a game in which it counted, about proving that they can go toe-to-toe with the best in the game.

Well, they're going to have to now, and it's their own fault.

It will all come down to Monday against Uruguay. This is what they wanted, right? They definitely didn't want it to happen like this, but this is the test that the USMNT may just need on the road to the World Cup.

They'll need to be massively better than they were against Panama, a game in which just about everything went wrong. So many mistakes were avoidable, from Weah's red card to the team's inability to close out a result with a tournament on the line. Despite all the growing this group has done as individuals, they're still naive as a group, and that's a substantial concern.

The pitchforks will be out. They're already out after this game and they'll probably be too much to fight back against if the U.S. doesn't pull off a win against Uruguay. The U.S. is now facing genuine adversity of their own making - how will they respond?