USMNT CONCACAF Qualifier vs Panama Preview
The USMNT play their 4th CONCACAF Qualifier tonight and while currently in 4th place, this game is very important to their 2018 World Cup hopes. The 2nd meaningful game under Bruce Arena, the first being a 6-0 drought of Honduras in San Jose on Friday, needs to continue the momentum going through this set of 4 games for qualifying. USMNT have not yet played Panama in this hex but can move themselves into the last automatic qualifying spot with at least a tie. If the USMNT tie with Panama tonight then they will be tied with Panama for 3rd place but will have the tiebreaker of goal differential for the time being. Even though a tie will move them into 3rd, Arena is looking for nothing less than a win tonight in Panama. According to Soccer Power Index, the USMNT will have an 85% chance of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with a win, where their chances decrease to 69% with a tie, and fall to 50% with a loss. The USMNT all-time leader in wins as a head coach will be looking to go 2-0 since his rehire as the head coach and is ready to put everyone on notice that the USMNT is alive and well. Arena was the Head Coach from 1998-2006 and led the USMNT to its best showing in the World Cup in 2002 since 1930 by reaching the quarterfinals that year.
With John Brooks and Sebastian Lletget out tonight due to injury, Arena will have at least two changes to make from Friday night’s match. Jermaine Jones is eligible again, and DeMarcus Beasley made the trip, so there could be more than just two changes to the lineup tonight. The one thing that will definitely not change when it comes to the starting lineup is having Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore in their normal striker positions and Christian Pulisic playing that central playmaking role that he played Friday night. Landon Donovan passed the torch to Dempsey; this is the time for Dempsey to pass the torch to Pulisic. Donovan and Dempsey regularly dominated CONCACAF teams, time for Pulisic to do the same, starting tonight.
The USMNT leads the series 11-1-4 all-time, including a 5-0-1 record during World Cup Qualifying, and of those qualifying matches, the USMNT is 2-0-1 in Panama. Arena said his goal for the two March qualifiers were to come away with 4 points. I think Arena will be really pleased when they leave Panama with a total of 6 points in March.