ATLANTA: Timothy Weah’s moment of madness left America’s Copa America appearance hanging in the balance on Thursday as the hosts suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Panama.
Juventus winger Weah was sent off in the 18th minute after an off-the-ball clash with Panama’s Roderick Miller in a tense Group C battle at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Although Folarin Balogun gave the United States the lead four minutes after Weah’s red card, Panama’s numerical advantage eventually paid off and the Central Americans responded with goals from Cesar Blackman and Jose Fajardo to secure victory.
The defeat means the United States will almost certainly need to win or draw against mighty Uruguay in their final group match next Monday to advance to the knockout round.
US coach Gregg Berhalter said after the defeat that Weah’s red card was the defining moment of the match, labelling Weah’s actions as “stupid”.
“Of course, the event that decided the outcome of the match was the red card, which put us in a difficult situation, but we expected that from them,” Berhalter said.
“I can’t fault the group effort, especially after beating a man. The guys focused hard and we were close to scoring a point. But it’s a shame because there was so much more to this game and Timmy’s stupid decision left us undermanned.”
Meanwhile, Weah took to social media to apologize for the red card.
“A moment of frustration led to irreversible consequences and for that I am deeply sorry to my teammates, coaches, family and our fans,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I sincerely apologize to everyone. My love for this team goes beyond football and I am so sad and angry with myself for putting my brothers through what they went through tonight.”
Berhalter’s team could have taken the lead in the 81st minute after a good pass from Weston McKennie, with substitute Ricardo Pepi finding the back post. However, Pepi’s calm header fell to Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera to leave the score at 1-1.
That miss proved costly as, with seven minutes remaining, Fajardo finished emphatically from Abdiel Ayara’s low cross to put Panama 2-1 up.
In a tense final, Adalberto Carrasquilla was sent off after a cynical tackle on U.S. captain Christian Pulisic in the dying minutes of the match as Panama comfortably won.
“At the end of the day, that’s football. We know what we signed up for and going into the Copa America, we knew it was going to be a fight,” American midfielder Tyler Adams said later.
“It’s a credit to Panama, they did their job and got the result. Of course, I believe that in certain situations we need to control our emotions.
“The team fought for everything after we received the red card. I definitely can’t fault the effort. But by winning the first match, we still put ourselves in a position that we all have to fight for in the next match.
Adams said Weah apologized for his hasty dismissal after the match.
“You never want to get a red card, under any circumstances,” Adams said of Weah. “He’s not that type of person.
“He apologized to the team. And you know, just respect for the rest of the team because they fought for every ball, every challenge, every minute, and we still created chances even when we were playing with 10 men.
Uruguay faced Bolivia in their Group C match on Thursday.