"The Hex" has been an incredible series chronicling the US national team's entire run through the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying in 2013, all the way from Panama to Seattle and beyond.
A huge tip of the cap to the folks at KICKTV for their amazing work.
Today brings another new episode, and along with it a close to the 16-episode series, finishing with the USMNT's triumphant victory and Panama's heartbreaking defeat that ended the latter's World Cup dreams last Tuesday night.
With Mexico down a goal to Costa Rica — the other necessary result for Panama to qualify for the World Cup playoff — Panama took a 2-1 lead against the USMNT with six minutes of regular time to play. The crowd at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez erupted like no other, and it seemed the entire building could have collapsed at that moment without a single person in attendance taking notice.
But then, minutes later, the polar opposite reaction as the stadium went silent like never before as Graham Zusi's header rippled the back of the net in stoppage time. The heartbreak on the faces of Panamanian supporters is clear as day, as it strangely is on the faces of the USMNT fans in attendance. Nothing about that 15 minutes of soccer was, in any way, normal.
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We all know very well what happened, and what it meant for not only Panama, but for the Mexican national team as well.
October 15, 2013, will surely go down as a day of infamy in the history of Panamanian soccer, and KICKTV was in the building to capture the rawest of emotion in the form of fan reactions for our viewing pleasure.
Check out "The Hex" one last time.
