The US men's national team kicked off the Gregg Berhalter era with a promising victory on Sunday night, dominating Panama in a 3-0 friendly win at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to give the program's new head coach a positive debut.
Chicago Fire Homegrown Djordje Mihailovic opened the scoring with a goal on his international debut, hitting paydirt with a deflected finish to give the home side a 1-0 halftime lead after a dynamic, proactive start from the USMNT. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen made a sterling save on Edson Samms a few minutes into the second stanza to keep Los Canaleros scoreless.
Center back Walker Zimmerman doubled the advantage late on with a thumping header made possible by a fine tackle and pinpoint deep delivery from fullback Nick Lima, himself another bright debutant. Substitute Christian Ramirez tacked on a last-gasp exclamation point with a simple point-blank tap-in after fellow sub Jonathan Lewis surged clear down the left channel and found him with a centering pass.
