Bielsa took charge of Uruguay in May last year and steered them through a transitional period in which veterans Edinson Cavani and Diego Godin both retired, with all-time leading goalscorer Luis Suarez looking set to follow suit soon.

The 15-time Copa America winners have been in excellent form over the last several months, beating both Argentina and Brazil in World Cup qualifiers.

Those results have sparked hope of a record 16th continental crown for "La Celeste" but Bielsa said they were taking it one game at a time.

"When it comes to Uruguay's aspirations, we will see that and build it match by match," he told reporters.

"My expectation is that each match will increasingly help us to improve on our level. Uruguay has players of a very good level and we need to see if I can build with those players."

Uruguay dominated the opening 45 minutes as they pressed and harried Panama but their energy levels appeared to drop in the second half.

Panama looked likely to grab an equaliser after the break and Uruguay only regained control after Darwin Nunez's goal in the 85th minute.

"The first half gave us the edge over our opponent. We should have scored more," Bielsa said.

"In the second half, there were 15 minutes where we performed very poorly. They dominated the ball during that time and they created opportunities where we were only leading by one goal and if they had scored, it would have been complicated for us.

"We missed five goals and we scored one in the first half and then we missed five and scored two in the second half."

Uruguay next face Bolivia in New Jersey on Thursday.