Panama, USA face off in Concacaf clash at Copa America | OneFootball

MIAMI – Panama and USA meet in Group C at the 2024 CONMEBOL Copa America on Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

The hosts, United States, kicked off their campaign with a 2-nil win over Bolivia on Sunday in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Over in Miami, Panama fought hard in a 3-1 defeat to Uruguay.

Christian Pulisic scored the opening goal in the 3’, which is recorded as the fastest the USA has scored against a CONMEBOL opponent in a competitive match and Copa America.

Pulisic also joined the likes of Eric Wynalda and Clint Dempsey as the third player to score for the U.S. in five competitions. The goal also marked Pulisic’s 30th with the national team to tie Brian McBride for fifth on the program’s all-time scoring list.

The U.S. captain went on to assist Folarin Balogun for the second goal of the match to provide a more comfortable lead against Bolivia. In the process, Pulisic joined Clint Dempsey as the only players to record a goal and an assist for the United States in a single Copa America match.

Folarin Balogun is the second-youngest U.S. player to score a goal in the CONMEBOL Copa América at 22 years, 11 months, and 20 days old. The youngest is Chris Henderson, who was 22 years, 6 months, and 11 days old when he scored against Venezuela in 1993.

Matt Turner made three saves to collect his 25th career shutout, moving him past Brad Friedel for sole possession of fourth all-time among U.S. goalkeepers.

Panama began its campaign against fifteen-time champions Uruguay. Despite conceding the opening goal in the 16’, the Panamanians held their own and nearly equalized the encounter until conceding the second goal in the final five minutes of regular time, with two others coming in stoppage time.

Michael Amir Murillo scored in the 90'+5 to prevent the clean sheet and score Panama’s first goal in the 2024 edition. Los Canaleros will want to build on that ending as they look for three points against the United States.

Orlando Mosquera had four saves for Panama against Uruguay. Adalberto Carrasquilla and Jose Rodriguez also generated shots on target.

The two nations most recently met in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup semifinal last summer. The teams played to a 1-1 draw with goals from Jesus Ferreira and Ivan Anderson, the latter competing in the Copa America. Panama moved on to the final after winning 5-4 on penalties with Carrasquilla scoring the winning spot kick.

They will face each other for the first time in the Copa America. In their last 7 meetings in all competitions, the United States won 5 matches and lost 2, scoring 20 goals and conceding only 5. The last encounter was in the semifinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup 2023, which ended in a 1-1 draw in extra time with goals by Jesús Ferreira (105’) for the United States and Iván Anderson (99’) for Panama. Panama won 5-4 on penalties, marking their most significant victory against the United States in the last 11 years since their win in Group C of the Gold Cup (2-1) on June 11, 2011, with goals by Luis Tejada (19’) and Gabriel Gómez (36’) for Panama and Clarence Goodson (66’) for the United States.

All-Time series: 26 matches

17 wins for the United States

7 draws

2 wins for Panama

53 goals for the United States

17 goals for Panama