Panama beat the United States 5-4 in a shootout in the Gold Cup semifinals at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Wednesday night.
Jesus Ferreira cancelled out Iván Anderson’s extra time strike for Panama to send the game to penalties with the match tied 1-1 and Thomas Christiansen’s side won it from the spot to hand interim U.S. coach B.J. Callaghan his first loss since taking over national team duties.
“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,” Callaghan said, looking ahead to the Americans co-hosting the World Cup.
“You had some older senior guys that had experience that we challenged to take on more leadership roles, mentorship roles, and that came out. And then we had a group of young players, whether they are U20 — had played at the U20 — or Olympic age, and all striving to become part of that roster in 2026.”
The U.S. started strong and hit the post through Cade Cowell in the opening minutes, but it was Panama that looked better as the half wore on with the visitors having a classy goal ruled out for offside as the game went to the break tied 0-0.
The U.S. had just 34% possession in the first half.
Orlando Mosquera saved a penalty from the USMNT’s Cristian Roldan before Adalberto Carrasquilla beat Turner from the penalty spot in sudden death of the shootout to send Panama to their third Gold Cup final in the country’s history.
Panama will face Mexico after El Tri beat Jamaica at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
