Although we have American-style football here, in Panama "futbol" is what the Brits call football and the Gringos call soccer. The adage is that baseball is Panama's national sport, followed by boxing. However, by the size of the crowds that show up for games and the number of kids who play, football in the world sense of the word can make a good case for top honors.

The weakest part of soccer's claim to be Panama's national sport has been our performance on the international level. Our own ANAPROF professional league is a minor outfit in the world scheme of things, and only a few Panamanians have made it up to the top professional leagues. While Panama had eight players in Major League Baseball this season, our only representative on a major European football team is Julio Dely Valdes, who plays for Malaga in Spain's premier league. Moreover, Panama has never made it to the world championships at any level of soccer.

Gary Stempel, who coaches Panama's under-20 team, is plotting to change that latter fact. Having already outclassed most of the teams from Central America and the Caribbean, the squad faces an October 16-20 showdown at the National Stadium, wherein Panama, Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba will play for two spots in next year's world under-20 championships in the United Arab Emirates.

Stempel has prepared the team for the tournament by pitting it against a series of better Brazilian teams, in a game at Panama City's Rommel Fernandez Stadium and then a three-week tour of Brazil. Panama won only one game, against five defeats, in that series. However, they were never humiliated and, with the possible exception of the Mexicans, the opponents they faced were all better than the teams they will play for a pass to the world championships.

The trip to Brazil also allowed Panama's young team to get some coaching, analysis and conditioning tips from world class specialists. Already a decent defensive team with a demonstrated ability to move the ball down the field, if the experts' consultations allow the the strikers to control the ball in front of their adversaries' net and score just one more goal than they would have, or help the goalies to block just one shot than they otherwise would have, it could make all the necessary difference in the upcoming games.

In this round each team plays all of the other three teams once, and if won-lost-tied records don't determine the top two teams, various tie-breakers come into play. Mexico is heavily favored to win one of the two tickets for the UAE, but anything can happen. Math based on the conventional wisdom, however, argues that Panama's first game, on October 16 against Guatemala, is the key to this country's hopes to raise its profile in the soccer world. Stempel's squad plays the Mexicans on October 18 and the Cubans on October 20.

The National Stadium, which was primarily designed for baseball, has a better drained field and much better facilities for fans and athletes than Rommel Fernandez Stadium does. That will mean that with or without the seasonal rains, there will be some fast-moving games in front of an enthusiastic sea of people dressed in red.

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