Nice road win. The team is in great position with the next WC qualifier at home against Trinidad & Tobago.

The game will be shown delayed on Telemundo starting right now, and on ESPN2 at midnight.

Unfortunately, Pope picked up another yellow and will not be available for T&T. At least he'll be back for Mexico.

Bocanegra and Noonan also received yellows.

i liked McBride's goal. caught the goalie flat-footed leaning the wrong direction.

Keller had another amazing stop when he blocked three consecutive shots on goal.

Keller's 3 saves on that free kick were absolutely jaw-dropping.

Keller's triple save was incredible. Donovan's header and the cross that set it up were also excellent.Bocanegra is always great in the air, and it paid off with a goal for him tonight.

McBride's goal was nice, but I really think most keepers at this level would have handled that one. I know the keeper started off balance, but it didn't look like he even realized the ball was coming his way until it was almost there.

Despite some troubles in the back, this was a very good all-around performance for the US, especially on the road. Panama had not lost at home in this WC qualifying campaign until tonight.

I wonder if the Panama keeper got screened a little bit on McBride's goal. It really did seem like he was surprised to see it coming.

Mexico only earned a tie at Panama, so the US effectively picked up 2 points on Mexico with this one. Seems like the WC is pretty much a lock now, but it would be nice to win the region outright.

Well of course he was surprised to see it coming. He sweeper made a terrible play on the ball only to have it land at McBrides feet. I don't think many keepers could have stopped that goal. It was a well placed, quickly taken surprise shot. What made the goal brilliant was the place of the shot and the fact that he one touched it. Most forwards would have tried to pull it down and then shoot it.

Good win for the US though. All but secures a berth in Germany for '06.

Yeah, that sweeper gifted the last goal but the first two were legit. The US did something that I usually accuse them of not doing...take their chances. Panama had their chances but great goalkeeping and the right post denied them. The US had theirs and took them...almost all of them. Great result.

On to the Gold Cup. This will give Arena an opportunity to look at some new players and hopefully find a backline that works well (Hejduk is not the answer at left back) because they still looked shaky at times. I'd love to see O'Brien get healthy and play some games. He would be a huge addition to the midfield or even left back if there were absolutely no other options. One of the QF matches is in Houston so its possible we might get a US game in our area.

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The US did something that I usually accuse them of not doing...take their chances.

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Yes. That's exactly why I enjoyed last night's performance so much.

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I'd love to see O'Brien get healthy and play some games.

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Me, too. I think he could be an important piece of the puzzle in Germany.

I'm not sure what the winning combination on the back line will be, but I think O'Brien definitely belongs in the midfield.

God, you guys always have tough qualifying groups!

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God, you guys always have tough qualifying groups!

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Hey man, we're just playing the cards we're dealt. The best we can do is dominate, and that's what the US and Mexico are doing.

Incidentally, here are the current world rankings:

EUROPE GROUP 6
6 England
24 Poland
72 Austria
74 Wales
114 Northern Ireland
116 Azerbaijan

Average Rank of England group opponents: 80


CONCACAF Round 3 Group
7 Mexico
10 USA
21 Costa Rica
60 Guatemala
62 Trinidad & Tobago
95 Panama

Average rank of USA opponents: 49

I'll grant you that the world rankings are relatively useless. Also, you have to finish first in your group to automatically qualify (but most of the second-place European teams will also make the WC), whereas the top three in the CONCACAF group go automatically.

But it was an interesting comparison.

While some of the groups in Europe are torturous, I wouldn't qualify England's as one. I mean Poland is a challenge but after that, I don't think Austria, Wales, NI or Azerbaijan have ever qualified for a major tournament and pretty much suck.