Panama road to Russia 2018 World Cup
Sporting a 56th position in the FIFA ranking layout, the Panama outfit has no FIFA World Cup appearances to its name, no titles, and no achievements; a newcomer in every sense of the word. They barely made it through on the last day of the CONCACAF final Russia 2018 qualifier match day for this their very first World Cup appearance. Check Panama Betting Odds here.
In an relentless and dramatic night, during the final fixture for the CONCACAF final qualifier for Russia 2018, Panama’s Roman Torres, in an unprecedented and all-in deliverance, managed to drive home the second goal of the night at the dying 88th minute of the match against Costa Rica, thus meriting Panama’s golden ticket to the World Cup; all this right after a rather tricky goal from Blas Pérez (also from Panama) that never really crossed the goal line. They painstakingly made it into Group G along with contenders Tunisia, England and Belgium; their matches are due to kick off on June 18th, 2018.
Panama Key Players
Standout players do not actually abound in the Panama ensemble, but forward Blas Perez can account for over 100 appearances for Panama, participating in at least 4 World Cup qualifying campaigns while authoring 11 goals during that time. Another player that might hold his ground is team skipper Roman “Mazinger” Torres, whose determination is greater than his skills. Coach Hernán Darío Gómez, Colombian and aged 61, also known as El Bolillo, was appointed in February 2014. He has veritable credentials as a global finals connoisseur, having led his native Colombian hometeam to qualify in 1998 and later the Ecuador chapter in 2002, although he was twice eliminated in the first round. The team’s backbone is made up of players that have been with the outfit for almost a decade, i.e. goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, strikers Blas Pérez, Luis Tejada and Armando Cooper, plus Felipe Baloy and Gabriel Gómez. Amilcar Henriquez, a critical lynchpin for the team, was killed during a robbery early in 2017, which substantially decimated the team’s go-to players.
In the wake of the upset against Costa Rica, the team showed its underbelly when pitting only three players under 29 against their neighbor. Now, regionally, this might have been the way to go, to pit experience and expertise against rivals that are on pretty much the same page. But in a more aggressive, worldwide scenario, this might prove to jeopardize Panama’s participation in the World Cup and be their downfall. It stands to reason that this will undeniably make a dent in the way Panama betting odds roll.
Holding the 31th place in rank at the favorites layout among the countries up for the World Cup betting odds, the outright winning odds for newcomer Panama range from 500/5000 to 1.
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