Three things we learned from Uruguay’s comfortable win and the U.S.’s surrender in Group C

Group C of the Copa America is taking shape after Uruguay swept aside Bolivia and Panama stunned a 10-man United States side.

Here’s what we thought about the dramatic action in the two games.

The baton is officially passed

Uruguay have had some great strikers over the years, with Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez leading the La Celeste line for the past decade, but that legendary era is finally coming to an end.

But Uruguay fans needn’t worry, as Darwin Nunez is proving himself to be the man to lead the team from the front as the Marcelo Bielsa era gets underway in earnest at this summer’s Copa America.

The Liverpool player is known for missing big chances but the ailment seems to hardly bother him when he is in the national team shirt.

Nunez may be the most in-form player in this summer’s tournament, but the limits of what Uruguay can do with him at the front of the line remain to be seen.

Pay the price for bad mood

It’s hard not to get excited about the emerging young stars on the U.S. national team, but coach Gregg Berhalter’s team had to learn an unpleasant lesson Thursday night against Panama.

After comfortable wins over Bolivia and Panama, the talk around town was that all eyes would be on the third match against Uruguay, but Timothy Weah and his men had other plans.

This isn’t the first time a U.S. player has shown extreme displeasure toward a CONCACAF opponent: Sergiño Dest was famously sent off in the 2023 Nations League quarterfinals for kicking the ball into the stands and talking back to the referee.

After the game, team captain Tim Ream said some of his teammates had “said a lot of nasty things” to Dest, though apparently those words were not conveyed to the rest of the locker room.

As a result, the U.S. will need a surprise win over the aforementioned in-form Uruguay to advance to the next round.

Panama never sleeps

It seems that in each generation of soccer, there is one CONCACAF nation that always manages to surprise everyone, and in the current generation, Panama has taken that position.

Panama has become the cliché “tough opponent” and on Thursday night against the United States, they proved exactly why they deserve that title.

It may not have looked pretty, but Thomas Christiansen fought hard to secure a famous win that could be the platform they need to slip into the knockout stages.