Panama apparently have nothing to play for when they face England in New Jersey on Saturday. After an attritional 1-0 loss to Ghana in their opener, and a slightly unlucky 1-0 defeat by Croatia, there is no path to the knockouts for Los Canaleros.
There is, however, something else at stake: a first point at a World Cup at the sixth attempt. Panama lost all three matches on their debut appearance at the 2018 edition, so getting anything against England would be a statement result.
For a veteran generation of players and their long-time coach, it would be a crowning achievement on a body of work that has elevated a once-irrelevant program on to the global stage.
Until 2004, Panama had never cracked the top 100 in the Fifa rankings. They rose through the ranks steadily and, by 2023 established themselves as a top-50 team, climbing as high as 29th last year. Along the way, Panama reached the knockout stages at the 2024 Copa América, the final of the 2025 Concacaf Nations League finals, and a third silver medal at the Gold Cup in 2023. They also made themselves a monumental pain in the backside of the United States men’s national team, largely the leading power in the region over the last half decade. In all three of those competitions, Panama vanquished the USMNT and induced their elimination.
It was never pretty, though. The secret sauce for the Canaleros is that they’ve been playing together an awfully long time. Of the 26 players they brought to the World Cup, half are over 30, and three more are 29. Just one player is under 25 and four players have more than 100 caps, while Fidel Escobar stands at 99 and Michael Amir Murillo 96.
That’s a lot of time to learn how to grind out results: a Panamanian speciality.
Who is in charge?
The Spanish-Danish manager Thomas Christiansen has been the head coach since 2020 and longtime Concacaf observers consider him – not the USA’s Mauricio Pochettino, Javier Aguirre of Mexico, or Canada’s Jesse Marsch – as the savviest coach in the region.
Christiansen, who spent six years with Barcelona’s B team as a player and earned two caps for Spain, had a largely unremarkable managerial career before this, including a brief spell with Leeds United during the 2017-18 Championship season. But the affable coach has forged a collective out of these unfancied players that far outperforms the sum of their talent. Aside from José Córdoba at Norwich City and a handful of players in Major League Soccer and Liga MX, they mostly play for teams you likely haven’t heard of.
Danger men
It’s quite an accomplishment to be named man of the match on the losing team at the World Cup. But Cristian Martínez did just that against Croatia, such a menace was he on the counter up the right flank. He got sprung, again and again, in the space behind Josko Gvardiol. But José Fajardo was up front by himself and contained by the Croatian central defence, making it impossible for the two to connect.
Martínez won’t be the only speed merchant up the flanks. Michael Murillo will support him up the right. And the combination of José Luis Rodríguez and César Blackman will likely attempt to exploit the left.
Panama’s tactics
Did you enjoy watching England repeatedly crash against the tightly-packed banks of Ghana defenders?
Well, good news! Panama are every bit as seasoned in the art of footballing nihilism as Carlos Queiroz’s Ghana. Bunkered in a 5-4-1, the Canaleros will sit back and let England come at them. Then they’ll break away at speed, hoping to sneak through once or twice.
How can England break them down?
Croatia finally broke open the dense Panamanian lines after they went ahead and forced them to chase an equaliser. Until Christiansen’s men decide to venture out of their low block, however, England will have to spot the tiniest cracks.
They leave no real half-spaces, so Thomas Tuchel will have to work out how to drag them out of shape with overloads to cut open some kind of path to goal. There’s little use trying to beat Panama with crosses and headers, as centre backs Jiovany Ramos, José Córdoba and Andrés Andrade are imperious in the air.
When last they met
Panama will have played 33.3% of their World Cup matches against England after this. On 24 June 2018, they met in their second group match in Russia, in Nizhny Novgorod. Harry Kane scored a hat-trick – including two penalties – and England prevailed 6-1. John Stones scored twice, and Jesse Lingard got the other one.