-
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondent
ST. LOUIS — United States midfielder Tim Weah said he has “moved on” from the red card he received at Copa América against Panama, though he admitted it “played a pretty negative role on how the rest of the tournament went.”
The U.S. is set to play Jamaica in the second leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals on Monday, with the USMNT holding a 1-0 aggregate lead.
Weah is in line to see his first minutes with the USMNT since that night in Atlanta when a 10-man USMNT fell to Panama 2-1 following the Juventus winger’s red card.
The incident played a significant role in the U.S. failing to navigate past the group stage, as well as the subsequent firing of manager Gregg Berhalter.
“It was hard,” Weah said about the red card during Sunday’s media availability. “It played a pretty negative role on how the rest of the tournament went and obviously no player wants that to happen. No player wants to be the reason why his team gets knocked out. Or not exactly the reason, but it played a huge factor in why we didn’t go on.
“So I mean it was a moment and I think I’ve kind of accepted it and matured in a way that it just never happened again and we just have to move on.”
With no club soccer to immediately go back to, Weah was left to ruminate on what happened, and how to move forward. He said the support of his teammates and family helped him move past what happened.
“Having the summer off kind of just [put] a lot of things in perspective and kind of just focused on all the positives, just being there for the rest of the guys and soaking in all the love that I can from family,” he said.
“Obviously the negative comments on the internet, I really didn’t look at it much, so that kind of helped. But leading to Copa, we had this big dream of doing something amazing and it didn’t happen and that was just the reality of it. And now we can focus on something else, focus on something bigger, and now it’s just time to work on that and be positive and go in that positive direction.”
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino said that Weah will definitely play against Jamaica and wrote off the young winger’s red card to the kind of mistakes that can happen to up-and-coming players.
“I think tomorrow for sure he is going to have minutes and he’s going to be on the pitch,” Pochettino said. “I think he’s a very good player, very aggressive with the ball, fast, good legs and I think he’s young but it’s normal. He can make a mistake.
“We need to help him, for him to evolve and to learn, but I think he is very clever player, always smiling. He brought very good energy to the group, but the most important matter is the performance and how he’s going to perform tomorrow and hope that he can add his quality and help the team to achieve a very good result.”
While an ankle injury hampered Weah’s season with Juventus for a spell, he has scored four goals in eight Serie A appearances this term and is becoming more of a regular presence in Thiago Motta’s lineup.
Weah’s play has been noticed by international and club teammate Weston McKennie, who described Weah’s form as “flying.” “I’m happy for him as well because last year he was more in a defensive role and I mean it takes a little bit away from his characteristics,” McKennie said of Weah.
“As you guys know, wingers aren’t the ones that are normally used to running so much, but he held up his role last year and then I think this year I think we can see a little bit more of a true Tim in an attacking position, taking players on getting crosses off, scoring goals, getting in the box. So I think it’s amazing for him.”