When the Panama team steps on the Monumental, they will be about to face, in terms of hierarchy, the most relevant match in
their history, officially born in 1938, with a 3-1 defeat against Venezuela
.
The federation had been founded a year earlier and that same year it joined FIFA.
However, Argentina will not bring its best players nor will its coach, Thomas Christiansen
.
Because?
Prioritize the match against Costa Rica, on the 28th, for the Nations League.
In 1961 he was one of the founders of the nascent CONCACAF that will have its big party at the 2026 World Cup: the three organizers (Mexico, the United States and Canada), three direct access slots and two slots in the Interconfederation Repechages.
That is to say:
in this World Cup, which will have 48 participants, this confederation may have up to eight representatives
.
Panama is one of its serious contenders for those places.
From the world premiere to the traumatic elimination heading to Qatar 2022
Eight decades after their founding party,
Los Canaleros
-their most popular nickname- agreed to a World Cup, Russia 2018. Led by the Colombian Hernán Darío Gómez -an influential collaborator of Francisco Maturana, in Atlético Nacional and the team selected in the times of Pablo Escobar-
agreed on goal difference in the Final Hexagonal
: finished third with minus one and ahead of Honduras, which also added 13 points but with a difference of minus six.
The Catrachos
then fell in the Repechage against Australia (1-3 on aggregate).
The big disappointment was the United States
, which placed fifth after losing on the last date against the already eliminated Trinidad and Tobago, in Couva.
The passage through the World Cup in Russia was a continuation of the bad signs of the previous friendlies: one victory, two draws, three defeats.
None of those matches were against a top opponent.
Already on the way to the historic participation, he could not live up to the expectations generated in his country:
three played, three lost
.
The premiere was on June 18: the great Belgian generation won 3-0, in Sochi.
The worst happened six days later: England -specialist in early wins and halfway defeats- beat him 6-1, in Nizhny Novgorod.
The first goal in Panamanian World Cup history was scored by central defender Felipe Abdiel Baloy Ramírez
.
After the World Cup, he retired after a 20-year career.
The farewell to the Eurasian country happened in Saransk.
Tunisia was the rival.
Panama began winning with a goal against Yassine Meriah.
But in the second half they turned it around and
Gómez's team left empty of its long-awaited premiere.
In the Qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar,
Panama renewed a good part of its squad and its expectations.
Already directed by Thomas Christiansen, he agreed to the final octagonal.
The first three qualified directly and the fourth went to the Repechage with the winner of Oceania.
The top three was achieved by the organizers of 2026. Costa Rica finished fourth, which defeated New Zealand 1-0, to climb into the last car that led to Qatar.
Panama, which from the second date to the eleventh was among the top four, was left with fifth place and all the frustration.
The causes of the elimination were linked to their difficulties to add as a visitor: undefeated at home;
they lost five of their seven matches
.
In the end, they were four points behind Costa Rica.
Now, they are going after the steps of a rematch.
The knockout competition format fuels enthusiasm
.
It will be seen.
The long and possible road to the 2026 World Cup
Currently,
Panama occupies the 61st position in the FIFA ranking, that is, the fifth including only those from CONCACAF.
In other words, it is among the candidates to access the first World Cup with a triple venue
.
Jamaica (64th), El Salvador (74th) and Honduras (81st) and Curaçao (86th) look like the direct rivals to beat.
Understanding that, beyond the three organizers, Costa Rica seems to have a safe passport for the big event.
In the current Nations League 22/23, Panama got off to a good start in League A: at home, they again showed themselves impeccable (they beat Costa Rica 2-0 and Martinique 5-0);
as a visitor, again the difficulties (equaled without goals with Martinique).
With these results,
they have already qualified for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup and will seek a place in the Top 4 of the Nations League
: that possibility will be defined five days after their presentation against world champion Argentina.
The globetrotting scorer who imagines directing his first World Cup, but will not come to Argentina
Thomas Christiansen explained it in recent days: "
For me it would be exciting to go to Argentina to face the champion, against Messi and company, but for me it is not the priority. I will not go to Argentina, because for me the priority is the Nations League and not I want to play it in any way
".
Five days after the duel against Argentina, Panama will face Costa Rica for a place in the semifinals of the Nations League.
In any case, his decision received strong criticism from the press and discontent among the public as could be seen in television polls
.
He will be replaced for this appointment in Buenos Aires by Jorge Dely Valdés, Christiansen's assistant and coach of the Under-20 team.
Detail:
Panagol
-as it was known in his soccer days-
was a scorer in the Argentine Ascent between 1986 and 1990, with Central Norte de Salta, Deportivo Paraguayo and El Porvenir.
Coach Thomas Christiansen, facing his great challenge.
(EFE)
In his career as a footballer,
Christiansen became the top scorer in the Bundesliga
: in 2003 he scored 21 goals for Bochum.
He also
had a brief stint at Barcelona, with whom he won the European Super Cup in 1992 (led by Johann Cruyff)
.
And he even scored a goal for Spain against Lithuania in the 1994 World Cup Qualifiers.
But what if it's Danish?
Yes, he was born in a small town of just under 5,000 inhabitants (it could well resemble the one in the Danish series, Rita) called Hadsund.
He soon went to Spain and was nationalized to play for the national team, in La Roja
.
Before, during and after those milestones he was a globetrotter: as a player he went through Sporting Gijón, Osasuna, Racing de Santander, Oviedo and Terrassa, all from Spain;
then he went on: Panionios, of Greece;
Herfølge, from Denmark;
Bochum and Hannover, from Germany.
At the age of 33 he left his career as a footballer.
Already as a coach he continued on the planes.
He started as the main coach in Cyprus football: he had two good seasons with AEK Larnaca and
moved to APOEL, which he won the League and runner-up in the Cyprus Cup
.
In the 17/18 campaign he was the manager of Leeds United.
Before his arrival in Panama, he managed Union Saint-Gilloise.
In 2020, he took over the Panamanian national team to replace the Argentine Américo Gallego.
El Tolo
was fired because they couldn't pay him due to the economic crisis (among other crises) caused by the Coranavirus.
Thomas couldn't take him to Qatar.
He now wants revenge, in the region that he adopted him.
How does Panama play?
What's wrong with it?
How would he do in Conmebol?
Some details of the Panamanian team that will visit the Monument:
"Panama was, for a long time, a kind of sleeping giant. It hinted but did not achieve much. Its role has been growing: it agreed to the World Cup in Russia, in 2018; it was close to going to Qatar and now in a World Cup with facilities for The CONCACAF team appears as a candidate for its second presence in the maximum event", says from El Salvador, the journalist and narrator Gustavo Flores, Director of Sports of Diario de Hoy, who knows a lot about soccer in the region.
Flores adds a key detail: Panama does not have a strong League but with its 'legionnaires' it managed to put together a strong team, especially in its stadium, the Rommel Fernández". Panama has soccer players of different categories
in 27 countries
. Anyway,
Before Argentina they will not offer their best version
.
It was clear in the coach's words: "For me it would be a showcase, but in the end I owe myself to the Panamanian federation, to the team and if I travel and
leave the players training alone in Panama, what image do I give?, as if the game against Costa Rica didn't matter
."
Last Sunday, in their last friendly before facing the world champion, Panama drew 1-1 against Guatemala
, at PayPal Park, in San José, California, United States.
Center marker Carlos Harvey scored the goal for
Los Canaleros
.
Christiansen, who was in charge of the team,
arranged an initial 4-3-3
.
Will he be encouraged by a similar approach under the Argentine sky?
look also
Costa Rica, that good friend of surprises
Canada returns to the World Cup after 36 years and with another face
Hugo Sánchez, the acrobat of the goal that Lionel Messi erased all records
Argentina, the candidate of all in the two soccer World Cups that were not played
