Panamanian national soccer team / world championships

Panama
República de Panamá

World Cup record goalscorer:	Felipe Baloy (1 goal)
World Cup record players:	7 players with 3 games
Rank :	74
Balance sheet
3 World Cup games 0 wins 0 draws 3 defeats 2:11 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Belgium 3-0 Panama Sochi ( RUS ); June 18, 2018
Biggest World Cup defeat England 6: 1 Panama Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS ); June 24, 2018
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2018 )
Best results	Preliminary round 2018
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 28, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Panamanian national soccer team at world championships and the qualifications for them. Panama qualified for the first time in October 2017 for the World Cup finals that took place the following year.

overview

Panama was qualified for the first time in 2018 at the soccer world championships.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1934	Italy	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1938	France	not participated				Not a FIFA member, joined in 1938
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not participated
1966	England	not participated
1970	Mexico	not participated
1974	Germany	not participated
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification in the first round of the Central American Zone, Guatemala and El Salvador failed, but they also failed to qualify
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification of the central zone of Central America , Honduras and El Salvador failed, which later also qualified for the World Cup
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualifying failed in the first round by two losses to Honduras, which could but did not qualify for the final round
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Costa Rica failed, which could then also the first time qualify for the World Cup
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification again in the first round failed by Costa Rica, which could not qualify either
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification after two victories in the first round against Belize , in the second round against Canada and El Salvador, who could not qualify in the third round
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualifying in the CONCACAF second round at Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago failed, but dss also failed to qualify
2006	Germany	not qualified				The USA , Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago failed in qualifying in the fourth round .
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualifying failed in the second round to El Salvador
2014	Brazil	not qualified				The USA, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico failed in qualifying in the fourth round.
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Belgium England Tunisia	32.	Hernán Darío Gómez	After two defeats in the first two games, the team had no chance of reaching the round of 16 before the last game against Tunisia .

World Championships 1930 to 1974

The Federación Panameña de Fútbol was only founded in 1937, joined FIFA in 1938 and played its first international match on February 2, 1938. Therefore, the team could not participate in the first three world championships or the qualifications for them. But even after that, the association refrained from participating until 1974.

World Championship 1978

For the first time, Panama registered a team for the World Cup in Argentina. In qualifying , the team competed in the Central American Zone on April 4, 1976 in Panama City against Costa Rica for their first World Cup qualifier and won 3-2. Less than a month later, it was enough to score 1: 1 against El Salvador in the same place . The second legs against both teams and both games against Guatemala were lost, so that Panama was eliminated as the group bottom. In the end, none of the three opponents could qualify for the World Cup.

World Championship 1982

In qualifying for the World Cup in Spain, Panama met Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras again in the Central Zone . Panama could only win a point in the 1-1 home game against Costa Rica and was eliminated from the bottom of the group. The first two places went to Honduras and El Salvador, who then qualified for the World Cup finals in the final tournament and prevailed against Mexico .

1986 World Championship

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico, Panama met Honduras in the first round and lost both games (3-0 home and 1-1 second leg) and were eliminated after two games. Honduras then failed in the third round to Canada, which qualified for the only time so far.

World Cup 1990

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy, Panama met Costa Rica in the first round. After a 1-1 draw in the away game, the home game was lost 2-0, which meant that the qualification for Panama ended prematurely. Costa Rica then qualified for the first time for the World Cup finals, where the Ticos survived the group stage, but failed in the round of 16 against Czechoslovakia .

World Championship 1994

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA, Panama met Costa Rica again in the first round. After a 1-0 home win, the second leg was lost 5-1. Panama was eliminated early again, Costa Rica then failed in the second round to Mexico and Honduras, which did not survive the third round. Mexico then started a series of six round of 16 defeats in the USA.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France, Panama met Belize for the first time in the first round and won both games (2-1 and 4-1). In the following semi-final round Panama could only win the home game against Cuba and get one point each in the home games against El Salvador and Canada , which were also played for the first time. Since all three away games were lost, it was only enough for third place. El Salvador and Canada then only finished 5th and 6th in the final round, which did not qualify for participation in the World Cup.

World Championship 2002

Four years later Panama prevailed in the CONCACAF preliminary round of qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia together with Honduras against Nicaragua , which lost all games. In the second round Panama could only get a point in a goalless draw in the home game against Canada and score the only goal at 1: 7 in Mexico. As the bottom of the group, Panama was eliminated. Group winner was Trinidad and Tobago ahead of Mexico. In the CONCACAF final round, Trinidad and Tobago came last, whereas Mexico qualified again.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany, Panama only had to compete in the second round and met St. Lucia in the return leg . The third round was reached with two wins (4-0 and 3-0). Here the USA , Jamaica and El Salvador were the opponents. With two wins, two draws and two defeats, Panama qualified for the fourth round together with group winners USA. In this both met Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago. Panama started with a 0-0 win against Guatemala and also won a point in their second home game against Mexico with a 1-1 draw. All other games were lost. The USA was group winners ahead of Mexico and Costa Rica, which qualified for the World Cup. Trinidad & Tobago was then able to book the World Cup ticket in the playoffs against the Asian fifth Bahrain for the only time so far. In the final round, however, only Mexico could win a game of the quartet and reach the knockout round, but failed there because of Argentina .

World Championship 2010

Qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa was even worse for Panama . Although they qualified directly for the second round, in which they met El Salvador, after a 1-0 home win, the second leg was lost 3-1. El Salvador then advanced to the fourth round, but missed the World Cup ticket there in fifth.

World Championship 2014

In the qualification for the second World Cup in Brazil, Panama was able to significantly increase. First, the second round against Nicaragua and Dominica - which was played for the first time - survived with four wins. In the third round, Panama and the equal points team from Honduras prevailed against Canada and Cuba. In the fourth round, however, only the fifth place was occupied behind the USA, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico. They only missed fourth place on the last day of the home game against the USA, which had already qualified. Panama led 2-1 up to the 90th minute and would have qualified for the intercontinental playoffs against New Zealand with the same number of points and goal difference as Mexico, but more goals scored (10 versus 7) . Then the USA scored two more goals in stoppage time within two minutes, so that Panama lost 3-2 and fell behind Mexico. Mexico then prevailed against New Zealand in the intercontinental playoffs and went to the World Cup. At the World Cup, Costa Rica was the best CONCACAF team. First, the Ticos prevailed against the three former world champions England , Italy and Uruguay and advanced to the quarter-finals, where they only failed on penalties against the Dutch .

World Championship 2018

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Panama

The qualification for the World Cup in Russia brought the first World Cup finals for Panama. Qualification for Panama only started in the fourth round this time. Together with Costa Rica, the team prevailed against Haiti and Jamaica. In the fifth round they both faced Honduras, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA. In the first half of qualifying, Panama only managed a 1-0 win in Honduras. Three games ended in a draw, two of them without goals and they lost 1-0 to Trinidad and Tobago away from home. The second half was also balanced: two wins were paired with two defeats, and there was also a 2-2 home game against Honduras. Panama was only able to qualify on the last matchday by beating the already qualified Costa Ricans 2-1. Costa Rica took the lead 1-0 in the 36th minute. Gabriel Torres in the 52nd minute and Román Torres in the 88th minute then ensured Panama's victory. They also benefited from the fact that the USA team, which had previously been placed in front of them, lost their away game against bottom of the table Trinidad and Tobago 2-1. With this, Panama had achieved third place with 9:10 goals in front of the team from Honduras with the same number of points, but who had an even worse goal difference, and thus directly qualified for the World Cup finals. Honduras had to face Asian champions Australia in the playoffs . With a 0-0 and 3-1 victory, Australia qualified for the World Cup finals in these games.

At the final tournament in Russia, Panama and Tunisia lost both of their opening games against Belgium (0: 3) and England (1: 6) and, like Tunisia, were eliminated after two preliminary rounds. Defender Felipe Baloy scored the first World Cup goal for Panama . The final third group game against Tunisia was also lost 2-1, with the Tunisians responsible for all goals. With this, Panama finished last in the group and worst participant. After the World Cup, Hernán Darío Gómez resigned as national coach of Panama and was again coach of Ecuador.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
2018 (3)	20 (2 in Belgium, 2 in Chile, 1 in Costa Rica, 2 in Guatemala, 1 in Honduras, 1 in Colombia, 1 in Mexico (2nd division), 1 in Peru, 1 in Romania, 1 in Slovakia, 1 in Spain, 6 in the USA)	Ricardo Avila (2), José Luis Rodríguez (3); Armando Cooper (2), Gabriel Torres (2); Abdiel Arroyo (2); Felipe Baloy (1), Blas Pérez (2); Luis Ovalle (1); Gabriel Gomez (3); Edgar Bárcenas (3); Luis Tejada (2); Jaime Penedo (3); Eric Davis (2); Ismael Díaz (1); Hárold Cummings , Fidel Escobar (3), Aníbal Godoy (3), Adolfo Machado (1), Michael Murillo (2), Román Torres (3)

Games

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1.	June 18, 2018	0: 3	Belgium	*	Sochi ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Belgium
2.	June 24, 2018	1: 6	England	*	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )	Group game	First game against England
3.	June 28, 2018	1: 2	Tunisia	*	Saransk ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Tunisia

See also

• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
2. ↑ fifa.com: "Panama celebrates, the USA mourns"
3. ↑ fifa.com: Hallgrimsson and Gomez resign
4. ↑ fifa.com: Experienced Gomez again coach of Ecuador
5. ↑ One of them in a 2nd team