sports

The time and place to be if you are a Panamanian soccer fan is 7:30 p.m. on November 17 at the Rommel Fernandez Stadium. You should be wearing red.

If all goes well, you will have more opportunities to support the national team in the eliminations for the 2006 World Cup. But then, what the Panamanian squad does on the field that night will not be the only factor.

As it now stands, each team in Group A of the CONCACAF semifinal round has one game to play. While Panama takes on El Salvador on the 17th, the United States will be in Columbus, Ohio playing host to Jamaica. The Americans, who are riding a 12-game overall unbeaten streak and who haven't lost in their last 28 CONCACAF matches, lead the group with 11 points and have already qualified for the next round. (Panama tied the USA one-all at the Rommel, and got crushed 6-0 in Washington DC.) In second place is Jamaica, whom the Panamanians beat in Kingston and tied at home, with 6 points and a +2 goal differential, followed by Panama with 5 points and a -6 goal differential, with El Salvador in the cellar with 4 points and -6.

If Panama loses or Jamaica wins, that's all for this country's dreams of playing in the next World Cup.

But Jamaica is playing away against the powerful US team, while Panama is playing at home against El Salvador, whom they beat in San Salvador.

The problem is that in the previous game against the Salvadorans, they outplayed Panama but the Panamanians won. Yes, our team will have the home field advantage, but no, there is nothing remotely certain about a Panamanian victory.

If the game with El Salvador ends in a tie, Panama would probably be eliminated. But a tie along with an American slaughter of Jamaica by six or more points gets Panama into the next round.

Do the math and grasp the straws, but it will for practical purposes be a "must win" situation for the Panamanian team on the 17th. For the Salvadorans, a tie will in no case do, but if they beat Panama and the USA beats Jamaica, El Salvador jumps over both Panama and Jamaica to make it to the next round.

If Panama wins and Jamaica loses or ties --- and both of these things are reasonable if not certain bets --- then our men in red will be together to play another day. February 9, 2005 and the subsequent CONCACAF dates of the CONCACAF finals, to be specific.

Is there a complicating factor? Of course there is. We're dealing with sports, after all.

The big complication for Panama is that Roberto "Bombardero" Brown, who along with Julio "Panagol" Dely Valdés had been leading Panama's offense, is recovering from a knee injury suffered while playing for his regular Austrian professional team and won't be in the lineup. José "Gavilán" Garcés, who plays for San Francisco in Panama's ANAPROF professional league, has been called up to take Brown's place on the team and possibly in the starting lineup.

Back to top