2′ Mihailovic plays an excellent diagonal ball into Morris on the right wing, though the ensuing cross in was blocked out for a US throw.
1′ Referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim blows his whistle, and this match is underway!
The teams are out on the pitch as the national anthems play throughout Children’s Mercy Park. Not long to go until kick-off now!
The United States make a full 11 changes after their 6-0 thumping of Trinidad and Tobago. Johsnon, Cannon, Gonzalez, Miazga, Lovitz, Trapp, Roldan, Mihailovic, Morris, Lewis, and Altidore all come into the starting XI, while Steffen, Lima, Zimmerman, Long, Ream, Bradley, McKennie, Pulisic, Boyd, Arriola, Zardes all drop to the bench. Like Panama, the assumption is that the US are already resting their stars for the next round. The most interesting change from coach Greg Berhalter though, is the swap of Zardes for Altidore. The former has already scored three goals at this tournament and, while Altidore is generally preferred when fit, he will need to put in a good performance today if he wants to start the next match as well.
A whopping nine changes for Panama off the back of their 4-2 victory against Guyana last time out. Meija, Murillo, Torres, Davis, Barcenas, Cooper, Quintero, Arroyo, and Blackburn find themselves on the bench today with Calderon, Palacios, Machado, Fajardo, Rodriguez, Walker, Torres, and Browne starting the match. Having already advanced, coach Julio Dely Valdes has clearly opted to swap the majority of his squad out for this match with their place in the quarter-finals already secured. Despite all of the changes, the United States’ defence will still need to keep an eye on Torres and Machado, both of whom have scored over the last five matches for their national team.
United States substitutes: Zack Steffen, Tim Ream, Tyler Miller, Gyasi Zardes, Michael Bradley, Aaron Long, Paul Arriola, Walker Zimmerman, Tyler Boyd, Christian Pulisic, Zack Steffen, Nick Lima, Weston McKennie.
United States (4-1-4-1): Sean Johnson; Reggie Cannon, Omar Gonzalez, Matt Miazga, Daniel Lovitz; Wil Trapp; Jordan Morris, Cristian Roldan, Djordje Mihailovic, Jonathan Lewis; Jozy Altidore.
Panama substitutes: Luis Mejia, Michael Murillo, Orlando Mosquera, Armando Cooper, Rolando Blackburn, Eric Davis, Alberto Quintero, Valentin Pimentel, Roman Torres, Abdiel Arroyo, Marcos Sanchez, Edgar Barcenas.
Panama (5-4-1): Jose Calderon; Fidel Escobar, Francisco Palacios, Harold Cummings, Adolfo Machado, Kevin Galvan; Jose Fajardo, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Ernesto Walker, Gabriel Torres; Omar Browne.
Now, let’s take a look at the team news!
The United States will be hoping to get on the scoresheet first today, considering they have won 29 of the 31 Gold Cup group stage matches in which they scored first. One of those two matches, though, did come against Panama in 2017 (1-1).
Panama come into this match having won just two matches in 2019 but, with both coming at this tournament (against Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago), Los Canaleros have already secured a place in the quarter-finals.
These sides are quite familiar with one another, though the United States have had the upper hand of late having gone unbeaten against Panama in their last 12 meetings (W8, D4).
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of this Gold Cup match between Panama and the United States!
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