Despite going agonisingly close to winning it, defeat in the 2019 Gold Cup final will constitute a massive failure for the United States Men’s National Team and Gregg Berhalter. The U.S. had looked genuinely good in the group stages, brushing aside Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago with ease, while doing a professional job against Panama once qualification was already secured.
However, that was the absolute bare minimum expected from one of the two strong favourites for this tournament. Their struggles against Curacao in the quarter-finals were not what fans expected.
Nevertheless, they made it through, saw off Jamaica in the semi-finals and actually had a very bright opening quarter against Mexico on Sunday.