Former US Men’s National Team defenseman and FOX commentator Alexi Lalas was furious after the squad’s horrific 2-1 loss to Panama in the Copa America group stage.
Team USA will now likely need a victory over Uruguay to advance past the group stages of the Copa America Tournament — and a loss could cost coach Gregg Berhalter his job.
“I mean, this one hurts, obviously,” Lalas said just moments after Panama scored in the 83rd minute to take home a victory over the United States on home soil in Atlanta. “But there’s a strange part of me that said, ‘You know what? All chips in, alright?’
“We talked so much about this tournament being an assessment of this team, an assessment of head coach Gregg Berhalter relative to getting out of the group and playing against the likes of Colombia and Brazil. But you know what? That challenge and that assessment — that ultimate assessment — is now going to happen in the third game against Uruguay.”
Uruguay will be a tough matchup for the Americans as one of the tournament favorites coming in, not making it any easier on Berhalter, whose time leading the USMNT has been tulmultuous.
“They better be up for it. Because if they do not go through, Gregg Berhalter is going to lose his job and rightfully and fairly so,” Lalas said. “But this is a situation that this team, including Gregg Berhalter, have created for themselves. Now, find a way to get out of it.”
After looking dominant in the first 15 minutes against Panama, Team USA took a 1-0 lead and things were looking up for the Stars and Stripes.
It all came crashing down in the 18th minute when forward Timothy Weah was assessed a questionable red card — which Lalas called “dumb” in a post on X — immediately followed by an equalizing goal from Panama’s Cesar Blackman in the 26th minute.
From that point forward, the Americans struggled wildly down a man as Berhalter struggled to find the correct lineups to deal with playing down a man.
José Fajardo put Panama ahead for good in the late stages as Team USA lost as massive favorites Thursday evening.
Berhalter will now go into Monday night’s matchup with Uruguay as surprising favorites on DraftKings at -130, having everything to play for.
That seemingly includes Berhalter’s future.
The coach’s time with the USMNT has been fraught.
He publicly feuded with forward Gio Reyna in 2023 — a spat that allegedly involved his father, Claudio Reyna, who may have used information about a domestic violence misdemeanor involving Berhalter in 1992 to influence decisions made by the United States Soccer Federation.
Berhalter was brought back as coach after a report from the USSF said that the Reynas may have violated FIFA’s code of ethics to help Gio gain standing with the team.
