The USA will play Panama on Saturday afternoon in the Gold Cup 2015's third-fourth place playoff. Both teams will be massively disappointed to be in this game and not in Sunday's final. However, today's game should still be a good one between two very competitive teams. The match takes place from PPL Park, Chester, Penn. and has a scheduled start time of 4 p.m. ET, and can be watched on TV on the Fox Sports 2 network, or online through live stream via the link below.
USA boss Jurgen Klinsmann had said all summer long that his goal for this year was to win the Gold Cup so that his team could avoid a playoff for a Confederations Cup spot. However, they dramatically fell short of their goal earlier this week as they gifted two soft goals to Jamaica, leaving them with too much to do to get back into the game.
Today's third place game may not mean too much for Klinsmann and his men, but they may want to come out and gain some redemption for losing their semi final game. Pride is the main thing they have to play for in today's game.
Panama meanwhile may feel extremely difficult to get motivated for today's game as they will feel they should be in Sunday's Gold Cup Final showdown against Jamaica.
Panama lost their semi final after a controversial penalty was awarded to Mexico in injury time, just as Panama were minutes from securing a 1-0 win over their opponents. The harsh penalty award came after a Panama player fell on the ball in the box after an excellent tackle to see off another Mexico threat. Most pundits and experts have called the decision to award the penalty as plainly wrong, and agree that Panama should feel harshly treated.
That penalty sparked wild protests, with the game stopped for more than 10 minutes as the referee tried to regain control. Both benches were emptied as players clashed on the pitch and Panama players surrounded the officials in protest.
However, by the time the penalty was taken it was clear many of the Panama players had completely lost their composure and perhaps their appetite for the semi final altogether.
The players were not the only ones to lose control, as Panama fans erupted in anger across the stadium too, some throwing trash onto the pitch to protest what they felt was an unjust penalty.
Mexico scored the resulting penalty when the game resumed, sending the tie into an excruciating two periods of extra time, and by the time Mexico were awarded a second penalty in the added on period, you could see Panama's heads had already gone down.
For today's game it may be expected that both teams will field players who haven't been given too much of a run out so far at the tournament, and it may come out as more like an international friendly, where both managers try some new things and experiment with some formations.
The Gold Cup 2015 coverage has been covered by Fox Sports, and the TV channel clearly did not plan for the USA to fall into the third place playoff, and already scheduled the game to appear on side-channel, Fox Sports 2, which may make the game much more difficult for USA and Panama fans to follow.
Nevertheless the game has a scheduled start time of 4 p.m. ET and can be watched online through live stream by clicking here.
