Once upon a time… the United States traveled to Panama for their last game of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup. They had dominated the qualifiers as expected and had the first spot secured even before the game. On the other side of the pitch, Panama needed a win AND a Mexico loss in Costa Rica to reach that playoff game against New Zealand. Costa Rica, much like the United States, had their ticket to Brazil secured. However, the possibility of eliminating Mexico was a trophy of its own for Costa Rica and Central America in general. Before the opening kickoff, no one would’ve guessed that the United States vs Panama game would’ve saved Mexico from national embarrassment.
The U.S came out with an alternative lineup giving some of the role players significant minutes. From that starting XI, only Jozy Altidore was an undisputed starter. Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Tim Howard all watched on. Meanwhile, Panama came out with the best starting XI that they could find within their 3.8 million people.
Panama opened up the scoring within the first 18 minutes of the game after a sensational recovery of the ball. Kyle Beckerman lost the ball about 30 yards away from his own goal and failed to even hustle to recover the ball. Panama’s Quintero quickly spotted his forward’s run at the top of the box who laid it off for Gabriel Torres whose one touch banger beat Guzan and went straight to the side netting. 1-0 for the hosts as the entire country of Panama went in a full frenzy .
Up north in Costa Rica, Oribe Peralta had equalized for Mexico after a sensational goal by Bryan Ruiz just four minutes before. Mexico was three points above Panama after Raul Jimenez had scored the game winning bicycle kick against Panama just days before. In other words, even if Panama beat the United States, a tie for Mexico still meant that the North Americans would play New Zealand and Panama would be out of the World Cup.
The second half started simultaneously for both games and with the same objectives for all four teams. Costa Rica and Mexico shaking in their seats knowing that a goal by Costa Rica was more likely than a goal of their own. Both the Panama and the Mexican benches were getting alerts on their phones to keep track of what was going on in the other game. The beauty of the qualifiers.
In the 63rd minute, Costa Rica re-took the lead after a wide open header by Alvaro Saborio. Mexico’s defensive problems continued to be on full display when Saborio was able to header calmly inside the 6-yard box. Memo Ochoa had no chance to stop Saborio point blank header and Mexico’s World Cup dreams began to hang by a thread.
Thankfully for Mexico, in the 64th minute, the United States halted Panama’s World Cup dreams thanks to a header by Michael Orozco. His header somehow found the net in a penalty box filled with fouls by both teams. Not exactly the best looking goal, but it was enough for the United States…and Mexico of course.
In the dying moments of the game, Panama was able to retake the lead. They recovered the ball inside the United State’s half and found themselves in a 3v3 going to goal. They played the ball wide hoping to stretch the U.S’s limited defense as the right back waited for the forwards to make their runs to goal. A deadly ball inside the six which Guzan was unable to clear, landed right at the feet of Luis Tejada who put it away cleanly for the 2-1 lead. If Panama was able to maintain this lead AND the score remained the same in San Jose, Costa Rica, Mexico would be missing out on their first World Cup since 1990.
Panama looked to waste as much time as possible to ice the game out knowing that another goal by Mexico seemed almost impossible. They had finished playing the full 90 minutes and the referee had added a total of three minutes of stoppage time. Three minutes separated Panama from their first ever World Cup.
In a span of two minutes, it all came crashing down for Panama. In the second minute of stoppage time, Castillo found Davis open on the left flank who had all the time in the World to pick out a target in the box. A perfect ball that found Graham Zusi wide open for an easy header that gave Penedo no chance. The entire country of Panama went silent as they witnessed Zusi singlehandedly eliminate them from the World Cup and give their ticket to an undeserving Mexico. Meanwhile, the news spread like fire and the Mexican bench began to celebrate in Costa Rica. Celebrate the fact that the United States, their eternal rivals, was keeping them alive when they couldn’t do it themselves.
As Panama pushed up to look for that late goal miracle, they left their backline exposed. The roles switched and it was the United States who found themselves in a 3v3 just outside Panama’s box. Johansson didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger from outside the box and he slotted home the 3-2 as the very few fans that were left looked on.
Mexico will never forget that it was Zusi and the United States who resurrected them back to life in a horrific World Cup qualifiers. With nothing to win or lose, the U.S opened the door for Mexico to reach the 2014 World Cup.
#YoureWelcomeMexico @miseleccionmx
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 16, 2013
I guess karma will always come back to haunt you. Just ask Bruce Arena and the boys who missed out on the World Cup this year. If only Mexico would’ve re-paid them the favor and beat Honduras. Oh, and by the way. Guess who made it to the World Cup this time around and left the United States behind… none other than Panama.
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