National soccer team dominates but loses

The Panamanian national soccer team got stuck in an annoying tranque on its way to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but at this point the situation looks far from hopeless.

On August 18 in San Salvador the Panamanians controlled play for almost all night long --- as well they should have, given that for most of the match they played with a one-man advantage, as El Salvador’s José Martínez was sent off with a red card 42 minutes into the first half.

But the Panamanian side made a couple of first half mistakes. The first was a rebound given up by goalie Ricardo James about seven minutes into the match, compounded by another error by defender Luis Moreno deep in Panama’s end, which Victor Velásquez converted into the home team’s first goal. Julio “Panagol” Dely Valdés tie the game in its 35th minute on a beautiful assist by defender Carlos Rivera, but then, a couple minutes after Panama got the one-man advantage, Carlos Rivera leveled his previous outstanding play by fouling Jorge “Zarco” Rodríguez in the penalty area and the Salvadoran converted the resulting penalty kick into what turned into the winning goal.

For the rest of the game Panama was almost totally dominant, but didn’t manage to put the ball in the net again. It added up to a 2-1 away game loss in the first game of the CONCACAF semifinal qualifying round.

CONCACAF --- the regional affiliate of FIFA for North America, Central America and the Caribbean --- is down to three groups of four in the hunt for its two or three berths in the 2006 World Cup. At this stage Panama is in Group A, along with El Salvador, Jamaica and the United States. Two of these teams will go to the regional finals. In the other Group A game played on the same night, the Americans and Jamaicans played to a one-all tie in Kingston. Panama has two games yet to play against the United States, two against Jamaica, and finally a November 17 home game with El Salvador. The Americans are favored to win one of the tickets to the regional qualifying finals, but anything might happen.

Panama’s next step is another away game, this time in Jamaica on September 4. Then they will play host to the Americans at Rommel Fernandez Stadium on September 5. If after those three games the national team is without a victory, it will be cause for concern. A couple of wins, however, will likely put Panama in firm control of its own fate.

Panama has never before made it to soccer’s World Cup. However, the sport has made great strides here in recent years.

Also in this section:
Panama's soccer squad loses in El Salvador
Panamanians in Major League Baseball
Interscholastic American football jamboree

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Setback on the road to the World Cup