Panama World Cup 2018

Panama World Cup 2018

Panama, the little nation from Central America with a population of just over 4 million, surprised everyone to finish in one of the three automatic qualifying positions in the CONCACAF region and book their place at a first ever World Cup finals.

World Cup History

PanamaPanama’s World Cup history to date is one of several failed attempts to qualify. Having not entered the qualification rounds for the first ten tournaments, they have been a part of the qualifying rounds since 1978 but all to no avail. That is until now.

  • World Cup Finals Appearances – 0
  • Previous Best Performance – N/A

How they qualified

Panama entered the CONCACAF qualifying process ranked as the fifth best nation in the region, which gave them at least a small hope of making it to Russia. In the fourth round, they finished behind Costa Rica, but ahead of Haiti and Jamaica, to advance to the fifth round. Then, in the six-team round robin group, known as the hexagonal round, they again faced Costa Rica, as well as Mexico, Honduras, United States, and Trinidad & Tobago.

A 1-0 win in Honduras and a marvellous 0-0 draw with Mexico got the round off to a great start, although they suffered their first defeat of it to Trinidad & Tobago in the next game. That was followed by three draws and a second defeat of the campaign, in their second match against Mexico.

Following a 4-0 defeat to United States in the penultimate game, it looked like Panama’s World Cup dream would have to wait for at least another four years. Going in to the final match, they sat in fourth position on ten points. Mexico and Costa Rica had already qualified, and USA were two points ahead of them in the final automatic qualifying position, with a match against a Trinidad & Tobago team who had lost eight of their nine qualifiers.

If they could pick up at least a point against Costa Rica, Panama would still have had the possibility of a play-off place. However, the final round of matches threw up several surprises. Panama beat Costa Rica, Honduras beat leaders Mexico, and United States suffered a massive shock defeat to Trinidad & Tobago. This meant that Panama leapt above the USA and clinched that final qualifying spot, to book their place at the World Cup finals for the first time in their history.

Coach/Manager

Hernan Dario Gomez is the relatively unknown manager who has led Panama to their first ever World Cup.

He didn’t really hit the heights as a player, but he has proved himself to be a fantastic manager, especially at international level.

Panama are the third nation he has led to a World Cup finals tournament, following him guiding Colombia to France 1998 and Ecuador to their first ever finals for the 2002 tournament in South Korea & Japan.

In February 2014, Gomez was appointed head coach of Panama and he has overseen a bright period.

Under Gomez, Panama finished third at both the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Copa Centroamericana in 2015. This led to the manager being named CONCACAF Men’s Coach of the Year.

In 2017, Panama were runners-up in the Copa Centroamericana and qualified for the World Cup.

Star Players

The backbnone of the Panama squad is a few ageing players who will appear at their first, and probably last, ever World Cup.

All-time leading goal scorers Blas Perez and Luis Tejada are 36 and 35 respectively, but they bring invaluable experience to the squad and have both done enough to ensure their places in Panama football history.

Captain Felipe Baloy is also 36, and will have over 100 caps for his country when they head to Russia, whilst goalkeeping pair Jose Calderon and Jaime Penedo are both in their thirties.

To be honest, most football fans would struggle to name a single member of the Panama squad but Gomez and his players will be hoping to change that in Russia.

Panama World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances

The bookmakers have Panama priced as 1000/1 outsiders to win the World Cup, 40/1 to win their group, and 8/1 just to make it through to the knock out stages.

They have been given a tough draw, alongside Belgium, England, and Tunisia, and it would be a surprise if they managed to finish anywhere but bottom of that group.

In our opinion, it would be one of the biggest ever World Cup surprises if Belgium and England didn’t go through as the top two.

So, their chances are pretty much zero heading in to the tournament, but the Panama players will enjoy participating in a World Cup finals tournament for the first time.

Our Panama World Cup Prediction

Unfortunately, we do not see Panama picking up a single point at this tournament. Our prediction is that they put up a game effort but ultimately exit the tournament as the bottom side in Group G.