On January 19 Panama's under-17 soccer team played Costa Rica at Armando Dely Valdes Stadium in Rainbow City, and at a couple of points it looked as if Gary Stempel might take two teams to world championships this year. The Panamanian side led twice, was never behind, and put three out of the game's four goals into the net.

Unfortunately, one of those four scores was an own goal. Also unfortunately, Costa Rica had pounded hapless Belize worse than Panama mauled them, the former by a 9-0 margin and the latter only 4-0. Thus a two-all tie, with the Ticos grabbing the one available ticket to the next round in Canada by virtue of scoring the most goals in the triangular tournament.

The under-20 team, also coached by Stempel, will play at the world championships in the United Arab Emirates in March. It will be the first Panamanian soccer team at any level to play in a world championship tournament. The shattering of that psychological barrier was palpable in Rainbow City on the 19th. The large crowd that wasn't praying for miracles or expecting defeat, but rather cheering on a team that everyone believed had a decent chance, and chastising Panamanian errors that might have been expected as par for the course in recent years. We're still a small country in the world of soccer and otherwise, but Panama is no longer to be confused with a doormat in international football.

Ah, but the errors did the Panamanian side in. A little before halftime, with Panama leading 1-0 after an early goal by Eduardo Jiménez, defender Raúl López misplayed a Costa Rican corner kick, heading it into his own team's net. Then, just before the whistle blew for the break, Celso Polo got a red card that left the Panamanian side short-handed for the remainder of the game.

Despite the disadvantage, Stempelís boys came roaring right back in the second half, with Reynaldo Jones putting the ball in the net 30 seconds into the half to give Panama a 2-1 lead.

However, it wasn't too long before Panamanian goalie Leopoldo López made the one significant error of an otherwise brilliant performance. He played too far out of the net when Costa Rica's Pablo Rodriguez took a 40-yard shot from the right side of the goal, threading the ball over the goaltender's head and under the crossbar.

Had Leopoldo López not played brilliantly, Panama would have been crushed. Costa Rica was clearly the more athletic and more highly skilled side. The Panamanians couldn't control the ball at any point in the game. They played a tough, close defense against opponents who had two or three strikers who were clearly faster and more explosive than anybody Panama could offer. When the Ticos were stopped, the Panamanians would just kick the ball down the field and race for it.

Two defensive mistakes gave Costa Rica the tie and the pass to the next round, and our players took it hard. It was the end of one specific dream for this particular team, but we will see more of most of these boys in the years to come. We won't have to wait that long for a few of them --- the precocious 16-year-old Armando Gun, for example, is on the under-20 team that will play in the world championships in the United Arab Emirates. It would be particularly mistaken to write off Leopoldo López for his one mistake in a big game. He's really good, and he has bright prospects for the future.