USMNT sent ‘set up for failure’ warning by Tyler Adams as captaincy candidate calls for no ‘excuses’ after Tim Weah’s costly red card delivers Copa America pain against Panama

The United States headed into their second game at the continental competition on home soil buoyed by a 2-0 victory over Bolivia in their tournament opener. With a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, Gregg Berhalter’s side fluffed their lines at the worst possible time.

Tim Weah contributed significantly to that, as he collected a reckless red card inside 16 minutes, and the USMNT threw away a lead handed to them by Folarin Balogun, leaving them to face plenty of uncomfortable questions.

Adams, who captained his country at the 2022 World Cup and remains an on-field leader alongside the likes of Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, has called for unity in times of trouble. He has said: “There's going to be frustration from this game. 'Well, what about the ref or what about this?' Like, we can't be sitting here making excuses. We're not that kind of team. We can't be that kind of team. I think when you let that start to creep into your mindset, then you're set up for failure.”

Tim Ream is another experienced head inside the USMNT camp, with the veteran defender adding on what went wrong in a 2-1 defeat to Panama: “Obviously we would've loved to keep the ball a bit more, but with the man down and not really in control, it's hard to then wrestle that back. So yeah, it would've been great, but we knew our transition and our counterattacks were going to be the key from that point forward, and that's kind of what we tried to focus on.”

The U.S. will get a chance to make their way into the last-eight when facing Uruguay in Kansas on Monday. A positive result there can carry them into the knockout stages, with that goal having been set before a ball was kicked in anger.