Klinsmann will keep job despite U.S. loss to Panama in Gold Cup third-place game

In the end, the United States men's national team wasn't even good enough to win a Gold Cup bronze medal.

The U.S. left PPL Park having to swallow that sobering reality after concluding a thoroughly disappointing tournament with a penalty shootout loss to a more-deserving Panama side in Saturday's third-place game.

Clint Dempsey's 70th-minute goal evened the score at 1-1, but after 30 scoreless minutes of extra time, spot kicks were needed. Goalkeeper Luis Mejia's save on DaMarcus Beasley secured a 3-2 shootout win for the Panamanians, who outplayed the U.S. from the opening whistle and should've won in normal time if it weren't for two goal-line clearances and clutch stops by goalkeeper Brad Guzan (11 saves).

The fourth-place finish – far from the USMNT's goal of winning a second straight Gold Cup – will not cost Jurgen Klinsmann his job as head coach. After the game, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati told reporters that he will not "make a change" even though previous coach Bob Bradley lost his job after losing the 2011 Gold Cup final to Mexico.

Klinsmann and the Americans were admittedly disappointed after losing 2-1 to Jamaica in last Wednesday's semifinals and entered the consolation final with only pride to play for. So it wasn't surprising that the U.S. found itself once again getting outworked by another grittier CONCACAF opponent.

Even more damning for Klinsmann and the U.S. is that Panama wasn't even at full strength. Coach Hernan Gomez had to make do without five players because of injury or suspension. Forward Luis Tejada and Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo were banned in the aftermath of last Wednesday's controversial semifinal loss to Mexico that prompted the Panamanians to request a CONCACAF investigation into its referee committee after some questionable calls by referee Mark Geiger.

That anger gave Panama a purpose. It dominated the listless Americans, who, to their credit, were at least alert enough defensively to keep the game scoreless after 45 minutes. In the 37th minute, Armando Cooper sprinted down the middle of the U.S. defense and had Guzan beaten with a left-footed shot to the far post, but left back Tim Ream made a sliding clearance to deny Cooper.

Left midfielder Fabian Johnson also made a clutch clearance early in the second half, but Panama finally made the Americans pay for their sleepwalking. Roberto Nurse ran unencumbered from the right side and made a simple cutback that shook both John Brooks and Ream to give the striker plenty of space and time to calmly put a curling shot past a helpless Guzan in the 55th minute for a 1-0 Panama lead.

Klinsmann threw on Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin to give the U.S. attack some spark in the 60th minute, and ten minutes later, the substitutes delivered. Yedlin ran onto a long ball and chested it down in the box, drawing two defenders before softly knocking a pass into the path of Dempsey, whose sliding finish evened the score and gave him a tournament-leading seven goals.

After that, Panama produced most of the chances and racked up a 25-5 shots advantage, 12-2 with shots on goal. That kept Guzan busy, including a save on Rolando Blackburn's point-blank header.

The shootout was tied after two rounds on penalties by Aron Johannsson and Dempsey for the U.S. and Roman Torres and Abdiel Arroyo for Panama. But then Johnson put his kick well over the bar and, after Guzan denied Cooper to keep it at 2-2, captain Michael Bradley had his PK saved by Mejia.

Harold Cummings had just enough power on Panama's ensuing penalty to make it 3-2 after four rounds. Then Mejia clinched the shootout and the third-place finish by stopping Beasley's attempt.

The silver lining for the Americans is that they still have a one-game playoff in October – against the winner of Sunday's Jamaica-Mexico final – to qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. But until then, there are questions to be answered – questions about how a U.S. side that was riding high after friendly wins over the Netherlands and Germany could fall flat on its face so badly on home soil.