The U.S. national team struggled on a hot night in Kansas City, with its defense looking vulnerable and more questions being raised than answered for Jurgen Klinsmann.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When Jurgen Klinsmann warned earlier in the Gold Cup of young players having to endure growing pains to develop into key contributors to the national team eventually, he had to be thinking about days like Monday.
His relatively young defense endured its worst half of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the first half against Panama, and only a much-improved second half kept the Americans from suffering their first group stage loss at the Gold Cup since a 2011 setback against the same Panama squad.