COPA AMÉRICA 2024

Why was Weston McKennie’s goal for the USMNT against Panama ruled out?

The Juventus midfielder thought he had given his country an early lead in the Copa América 2024 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

EDUARDO MUNOZ | AFP

Roddy Cons

Scottish sports journalist and content creator. After running his own soccer-related projects, in 2022 he joined Diario AS, where he mainly reports on the biggest news from around Europe’s leading soccer clubs, Liga MX and MLS, and covers live games in a not-too-serious tone. Likes to mix things up by dipping into the world of American sports.

Update: Jun 27th, 2024 18:22 EDT

The USMNT thought they had got off to a perfect start in Thursday’s Copa América 2024 group stage game against Panama when Weston McKennie fired the ball into the net in just the fourth minute at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. However, the Juventus midfielder’s strike was ruled out by referee Iván Barton for offside, following a VAR check.

Panama - USMNT: live text coverage

Who was offside at McKennie’s goal?

The ball had arrived at McKennie’s feet near the penalty spot after being touched back to him by Tim Ream, who was judged to be the offending player. The veteran defender had reacted fastest after Chris Richards’ header from a Christian Pulisic free-kick had come back off the crossbar, but was just offside when Richards made contact with the ball.

🚨🚨| GOAL: MCKENNIE OPENS THE SCORING!!

Panama 0-1 USA

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— Transfer Sector (@TransferSector) June 27, 2024

Why Tim Ream was interfering with play

Had Ream not got involved and the ball landed directly at McKennie, his positioning would’ve been irrelevant as he wouldn’t have been interfering with play.

But as soon as he touched the ball, he was deemed active and called offside.

Weah's costly red card against Panama

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For a split second, replays of the goal from certain angles suggested a Panama defender may have actually headed the ball against his own crossbar rather than Richards, in which case Ream wouldn’t have been ruled offside. However, the fact the USMNT centre-back just got his head to the ball first meant the goal was rightly disallowed.

Later in the half, the controversy continued as Timothy Weah was sent off following an off-the-ball clash with an opponent. He was initially booked for the incident, but the sanction was upgraded to a red card after another VAR check.