FIFA World Cup 2018: Panama

Of all the teams competing this summer at the World Cup in Russia it is perhaps Panama who are the biggest dark horses. They came incredibly close to qualifying four years ago for Brazil 2014 but this time around they were able to take advantage over a poor American team to take their place in Russia alongside Mexico and Costa Rica.

Traditionally football is not even the most popular sport in the country but with the excitement around the national teams chances in Russia there is a real possibility that qualification for this tournament could be the catalyst for the game to take over in Panama.

We do not expect to see too much in terms of attacking intent from Panama this summer. They will be clear underdogs against the European sides in the group with England and Belgium expected to go through in first and second and even Tunisia as the final group stage opponents are more experienced at this level. Instead, Panama will line up with a deep five man defensive block and look to prevent their opponents from breaking through.

Squad

Coach  Hernan Dario Gomez

The Colombian coach is something of a journeyman and indeed this will be his third World Cup having previously coached his native Colombia in 1998 and Ecuador in Japan and South Korea in 2002. Since then, however, he has bounced around a few club jobs without making anything approaching an impact anywhere.

Now he has a chance to build a legacy at Panama if he is able to come out of the tournament in a respectable manner he may be given the opportunity to continue his work moving towards the tournament in 2022.

Goalkeepers

Jamie Penedo, Jose Calderon, Alex Rodriguez

Defenders

Michael Amir Murillo, Harold Cummings, Fidel Escobar, Roman Torres, Adolfo Machado, Erick Davis, Luis Ovalle, Felipe Baloy

Midfielders

Gabriel Gomez, Edgar Barcenas, Armando Cooper, Valentin Pimental, Ricardo Avila, Anibal Godoy, Jose Luis Rodriguez

Forwards

Blas Perez, Gabriel Torres, Ismael Diaz, Abdiel Arrovo, Luis Tejeda

Tactics

In the attacking phase, Panama will concentrate on using Blas Perez as the focal point for direct passes into the final third. The two wide midfielders come narrow when the ball is played long to feed off any possible flick-ons from Perez. Here he wins the header and Panama have a chance of attacking the penalty area.

In