The USA have to make an unexpected early exit from the Copa América 2024 on home soil. The embarrassing group exit is of historic proportions.

The USA would have imagined things very differently. After all, the Copa América, the equivalent of the European Championship, will take place on home soil in 2024. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s team, featuring stars such as former Schalke player Weston McKennie, ex-BVB professional Christian Pulisic and Dortmund loan returnee Giovani Reyna, were expected to make it through Group C with Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia. But things turned out very differently.

With the aforementioned trio and other well-known names such as Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Tyler Adams (formerly RB Leipzig, now AFC Bournemouth) in the starting eleven, the Americans lost 1-0 to Uruguay early on Tuesday morning.

“Looking at the faces of the team and the players, we are very disappointed with the result. We know we’re capable of more and we didn’t show that in this tournament,” said Berhalter after the embarrassing exit, which the USA brought on themselves by losing to Panama.

The 1-0 defeat to Uruguay, one of the tournament favorites who finished the group with three wins, was not the problem in the end. It was the embarrassing 1:2 against Panama four days earlier. The scorer of the winning goal, José Fajardo, a 30-year-old center forward, currently plays for Universidad Católica in Ecuador’s first division. His market value is currently estimated by “transfermarkt.de” at around 850,000 euros.

The entire Panamanian squad is valued at just under 25 million euros by the portal. In comparison: Folarin Balogun alone, who initially put the USA in the lead, is listed at 30 million euros. But it didn’t help.

Because Panama (3:1) and the USA (2:0) both won against Bolivia, the 3:1 defeat against Uruguay on the first matchday no longer mattered. The Central American country sensationally finished second behind “La Celeste” in the group and will now face the winner of Group D on Friday, July 5: Colombia or Brazil.

The USA’s elimination, on the other hand, is of historic proportions. Never before have the hosts had to bow out of the Copa America after the group stage. “We had a good start with a lot of energy, but at the end of the day the quality just wasn’t enough,” said Pulisic after the defeat against Uruguay. He and his team-mates now have an involuntary early summer vacation