Clint Dempsey on Target as USA Earn Hard-Fought Point in Panama

Midfielder Sebastian Lletget injured his left foot in Friday’s 6-0 home win over Honduras and will be sidelined four to six months.

Christian Pulisic made an outstanding individual move to steal the ball, spin a defender and feed Clint Dempsey for his 56th global goal, and the United States held on for a 1-1 draw against Panama on Tuesday night in World Cup qualifying. Results were needed. The Panama game showed that Arena knew exactly what was at stake.

Panama were lively but they struggled to create clear-cut chances with Felipe Baloy coming close but was unable to keep a short-range header on target. Tim Howard had a fantastic outing to keep them from scoring a victor.

Dempsey, 34, again collaborating with the savant Christian Pulisic, gave the US a 1-0 lead at Estadio Rommel Fernández on Tuesday night.

Midfielder Christian Pulisic – 8: The best American tonight.

Pulisic, an 18-year-old who made his global debut on March 29 last year, is quickly establishing himself as the top American player with rare skill. If one of them has to sit deep, how best should Arena find that elusive balance between attack and defense, while accommodating a two-striker system that seems to be in the United States’ DNA? This dynamic will prove to be a two edged sword as it will allow the U.S. to develop better players, but will also increase our competition around CONCACAF.

It is a common tactic in soccer, and especially in the CONCACAF region, to try to slow down a talented player with some physical rough stuff that might also have the side effect of getting him angry. The goal was the 56th in Dempsey’s global career, now just one away from Landon Donovan’s national team record.

The U.S. got a flawless start to the worldwide break as they crushed Honduras 6-0 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. A healthy, in-form Dempsey is one of the greatest assets the USMNT has.

Pulisic setting up Clint Dempsey’s goal tells a bigger story than a road point for the USMNT.

It may not have been particularly exciting – especially for a late-night game on a weekday – but it did the job from a U.S. perspective.

“[Pulisic] was grown as a player here in the US”, said Arena. That’s exactly what the USA did in these two matches and here they now sit with a great chance to go to Russian Federation. With an injury-ravaged team, he leaned on the players he trusted most: Graham Zusi, Jermaine Jones, Tim Ream and Omar Gonzalez among them. The most painful came 3 ½ years ago at home when, on the verge of clinching fourth place and a World Cup playoff berth instead of Mexico, Panama conceded two stoppage-time goals to the already-safe Americans in a 3-2 defeat. It’s also worth noting that Panama is a much better team than it has been in recent years.

Both of these guys have one World Cup left in them, so it’s clearly time to begin rotating in players such as Kellyn Acosta and Dax McCarty in the midfield. Yet there is something to be said for withstanding trials and tribulations, and learning from them, learning about yourself. The raucous crowd was 99.999% behind the home side (credit to the small group of Yanks who made the trip).

Howard put it even more bluntly. According to our predictions, US will win today against Panama by 3-1 goals and secure their campaign spot to enter into the Federation Internationale de Football Association 2018 Road to Russia.

Cy Brown writes about soccer and other stuff for Sports on Earth.