When Panama takes on England in Nizhny Novgodorod on Sunday, it will try to shock the world by avoiding defeat against the nation football originates from. The start time of the most important match in Panama’s football history is 14:00.
Panama’s two biggest achievements have been two Gold Cup final losses in 2003 and 2015 (both to the Unted States). Los Canaleros came close to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. In their last match against the United States, they led 2–1 after 90 minutes and were poised to advance to a playoff matchup against Oceania’s New Zealand. However, they conceded two goals in stoppage time and were eliminated from contention. The playoff spot went to Mexico instead. The Panamanians finally got their revenge on U.S.A. last year and took their World Cup spot. Now, a meeting with England awaits.
Harry Kane’s two goals gave Gareth Southgate’s team the victory over Tunisia. The Englishmen more than deserved it, as they were the far more superior opponent over the course of 90 minutes. If it weren’t for Kyle Walker’s elbow, Tunisia wouldn’t have even got a chance.
Southgate has made headlines these days after dislocating his shoulder while jogging on England’s day off.
“It is better this is me than one of the players,” – he said.
“They were a bit surprised in the team meeting and were asking: ‘What have you been doing?’ As always, they were probably quite amused. It is good that we have had a quiet day today so I had prepared the meeting before and we are on to preparations for Panama. I am just a bit gutted because I was on for my record 10k time.”
At least he has stayed in a positive mood and hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
The Three Lions played really well in their opening match. They were active, fast and created chances. Unfortunately, their finishing let them down. Jesse Lingard himself could’ve probably had a hat-trick. Not all was perfect, though. There were some troublesome signs as well. For example, I was bemused by the fact that Southgate failed to recognize the need to introduce Jamie Vardy onto the pitch when his team was in a desperate need of a boost up front. Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier didn’t cooperate as one would’ve hoped. In general, playing Walker as a center back seems like a waste of his attacking talent. Phil Jones and Gary Cahill are perfectly fine options if the manager wants to go with a three center back formation. With Lingard missing all those chances, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marcus Rashford have a crack at a starting forward spot.
Roman Torres, the heaviest player at the 2018 World Cup, is Panama’s hero. He’s the one who scored the goal that brought them to Russia and he’s the one Panamanian kids look up to these days. His feelings boiled over during the rendition of the national anthem in the opener against Belgium, showing just how much passion there’s in this Panama side. That passion caused Hernan Gomez’s players to be overly aggressive at times, as they committed several reckless fouls. Belgium’s coach Roberto Martinez didn’t like the approach, but Torres was quick to defend his team:
“You have to mark out your territory. I don’t know what people are complaining about. We competed well against Belgium and when there were tackles they got stuck in as much as we did.”
Regardless of how they head into Sunday’s encounter, Torres and his teammates are huge underdogs. England has its weaknesses, which may cost them against opponents as talented as they are, but here, they should be able to find a way to Penedo’s net at least once (without conceding).
Odds
England 1.20
Draw 7
Panama 21