Summer of Soccer best bets: The USMNT gears up for Game Two

The Euros will be on hiatus for the next few days while the remaining 16 teams rest and recover — and that's great news for fans of the Copa America, which is just kicking into high gear. Thursday June 27 brings two crucial games from Matchday 2 of the Copa: The USMNT vs. Panama and Uruguay vs. Bolivia.

We're going to focus on the USMNT in this piece, but please, don't let that stop you from checking out the Uruguayans when they kick off in the late evening slot. Uruguay has quite the pedigree: it has a population about the same size as the Tampa Bay metroplex but it's managed to win two World Cups all the same. Tucked away under Argentina in a distant corner of South America, Uruguay is a shadowy, somewhat mythical presence in international tournaments. It's a joy to watch the team work its magic.

While "shadowy," "mythical" and "magic" aren't exactly words we'd use to describe the U. S. Men's National Team, we're still excited to see it line up for Matchday 2 of the Copa. The team looked competent in its tricky opener against Bolivia and managed to avoid the Game One Draw curse that haunted it in its last two tournament appearances. It was a solid, workmanlike performance against a team that demanded that kind of effort, and you can't ask for much more from the USMNT at this stage.

Panama is a different prospect than Bolivia, though. Panama brings history. Utter those three syllables in the vicinity of American soccer fans and they'll wince from the memory of 2018. That was the year the USMNT was expected to cruise to its best-ever World Cup finish; thanks to Panama's strong qualifying performance, it wound up being the year the USMNT failed to make the tournament at all.

Panama popped up again during the semifinals of the 2023 Gold Cup. It held the U. S. to a 1-1 draw and beat it on penalties to seal a place in the tournament final. So while the USMNT and Panama aren't exactly close-run rivals — they've played 26 competitive matches and the USMNT has won 18 of them — it's safe to say Panama has become something of a bogey team for the Americans in recent years.

The USMNT has unquestionably improved since the dark days of 2018-2023, and Panama has unquestionably declined. But will the weight of history force the USMNT into costly errors in this rematch?

Here's what we're looking out for as the USMNT preps to play Panama in Atlanta:

Panama's fighting spirit. Panama is a team that refuses to accept defeat. It loves to fight back even when the odds are stacked against it: just look at its opening match against Uruguay for proof. It got hammered 3-0 but still found the inner strength to net an honor goal in extra time and finish things off at 3-1.

With that in mind, we're backing a USMNT win with at least one Panama goal at +260. For better or worse, we think Panama is just as capable of offensive beauty as the USMNT is capable of defensive hilarity.

Captain America rides again.  Christian Pulisic was one of the USMNT's best players in its opening match against Bolivia: he was creative, flexible and dangerous on nearly every attack. His third-minute goal was the USMNT's first set-piece goal in ages, and you could see what it meant to him when it went in.

Call us basic, but we're backing Pulisic to score or assist against Panama at -150. He's in fine form and seems to be the only USMNT player capable of getting multiple shots on target.

Defensive battles. Bolivia didn't look up to much against the USMNT, but that wasn't because it had bad attackers: it was because of defender Antonee Robinson . The Fulham man made a whopping five decisive tackles inside his own half to break up Bolivian plays and regain possession. We're backing him to make at least three against Panama at +137: we think he's capable of delivering far more.

The USMNT takes on Panama on June 27 at 6 p.m. ET from Atlanta; Uruguay will battle Bolivia at 9 p.m. ET from East Rutherford, New Jersey. See you there!