ST. LOUIS – American midfielder Tim Weah said he has “moved on” after the red card he received in the Copa America against Panama, although he admitted it “played quite a negative role on the course of the rest of the tournament.” “

The US plays Jamaica in the second leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals on Monday, with the USMNT holding a 1-0 aggregate lead.

Weah is about to enjoy his first minutes with the USMNT since that night in Atlanta, when a 10-man USMNT lost 2-1 to Panama after the Juventus winger’s red card.

The incident played a major role in the USA’s failure to navigate past the group stage, as did the subsequent dismissal of manager Gregg Berhalter.

“It was difficult,” Weah said of the red card during Sunday’s media presence. “It played quite a negative role in how the rest of the tournament went and obviously no player wants that to happen. No player wants to be the reason why their team is eliminated. Or not exactly the reason, but it was a big factor. ” why we didn’t go further.

“So I mean, it was a moment and I think I kind of accepted it and matured enough that it never happened again and we just have to move on.”

With no club football to go back to straight away, Weah was left to think about what had happened and how to move forward. He said the support from his teammates and family helped him move past what happened.

“Having the summer off just put a lot of things into perspective and just focused on all the positive things, just being there for the rest of the boys and soaking up all the love I can from my family,” says he. said.

“Obviously I didn’t watch it much, so that obviously helped. But in the run-up to the Copa we had a big dream to do something great, but it didn’t happen and that was just the problem.” 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 move in that positive direction.”

USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino said Weah will definitely play against Jamaica and wrote off the young winger’s red card due to the type of mistakes that can happen to emerging players.

“I think he will definitely get minutes tomorrow and will be on the pitch,” Pochettino said. “I think he is a very good player, very aggressive on the ball, fast, good legs and I think he is young, but that is normal. He can make a mistake.”

“We have to help him so that he can evolve and learn, but I think he is a very smart player, who is always smiling. He brought very good energy to the group, but the most important thing is the performance and how he is going to perform.” tomorrow and I hope he can add his quality and help the team achieve a very good result.”

While an ankle injury hampered Weah’s season at Juventus for a while, he has scored four goals in eight Serie A appearances this season and is increasingly becoming a regular in Thiago Motta’s lineup.

Weah’s play was noticed by international teammate and clubmate Weston McKennie, who described Weah’s form as ‘flying’. “I’m also happy for him because he played more in a defensive role last year and I mean, it takes away from his characteristics a little bit,” McKennie said of Weah.

“As you know, wingers are not the ones who are normally used to running so much, but last year he kept his role and I think this year we can see a bit more of a real Tim in an attacking position, taking players along when taking crosses, scoring goals, getting into the penalty area, so I think it’s great for him.”