USA captain Christian Pulisic: 'Game of our lives' with Uruguay - ESPN

ATLANTA — The United States men are in a precarious position in the group stage of Copa América 2024 after a 2-1 loss to Panama on Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Americans will likely need to defeat Uruguay, their highest-ranked opponent in Group C, on Monday in Kansas City to advance without outside help.

U.S. captain Christian Pulisic said that's a fight his team is ready for.

«We have to go, and we have to represent our country with passion, pride,» Pulisic said. «We have to go and play the best game of our lives, and that's it. We want to go, we want to win, and we want to continue in this competition.»

Thursday's game against Panama went awry early for the United States when forward Timothy Weah was sent off for a jab to the back of an opponent's head in an incident away from the ball. The Americans mostly scrambled to defend for the following 70-plus minutes.

There was some immediate hope, however. Folarin Balogun put the U.S. ahead four minutes later on a sublime strike that found the top corner, but Panama equalized through César Blackman four minutes after that.

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter made three changes at half-time — including in net, with Ethan Horvath replacing Matt Turner, who sustained a leg injury sustained early in the first half — and the Americans sat in and defended in a 5-3-1, playing to preserve the draw.

The tactic mostly worked — until the 83rd minute, when second-half substitute José Fajardo beat U.S. defender Cameron Carter-Vickers — one of Berhalter's half-time subs to shift to a five-back — to a ball six yards from goal.

«It's down to one moment,» Berhalter said of the USMNT's second-half performance. «When you look at the stats, you look at the chances that we gave up, it was