PANAMA CITY — The path to a World Cup berth from the Concacaf region is never a simple, seamless exercise. There are messy matches on foreign land and occasional slips at home.
Clinching a place in soccer’s quadrennial spectacle takes dozens of players and most, if not all, of the qualifying matches. Hopes can rise and fall with each match.
After performing with panache and confidence in a home win Thursday, the Americans were sloppy and subdued in a 1-0 defeat to Panama on Sunday at Estadio Rommel Fernández.
With a chance to create separation in an eight-nation competition that will send three teams to Qatar next year, Gregg Berhalter’s squad fell out of first place and back into the thick of things ahead of Wednesday’s match against Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio.