June 16 – After taking Mexico to the edge in the Concacaf Nations League final in March, Panama is more than ready to make a deep run in the Gold Cup behind the man-management of Thomas Christiansen as he squeezes one more tournament out of his aging squad.
At Dignity Health Sports Park, Group C opponents Guadeloupe proved to be the perfect foil, at least for the first twenty-one minutes, as Panama decimated the tiny islanders with a four-goal barrage.
Christian Martínez began the onslaught with a tap-in after a lovely twinkle-toed dribble into the box from Jorge Gutiérrez in the 6th minute. Just seven minutes later, more jinking wing play saw Michael Amir Murillo set up veteran Aníbal Godoy to score his 5th international goal on his 149th appearance for his country.
With Guadeloupe reeling, a failure to clear from a corner kick was brutally punished by Ismael Díaz, who gleefully thumped the ball past a despairing Brice Cognard – who by this point was suffering from backache from picking the ball out of his net – in the 16th minute.
To make matters worse, Nathanaël Saintini decided to use his hands to protect his face, the goal, who knows what – however, after a VAR check, referee Keylor Herrera pointed to the penalty spot, allowing Eduardo Guerrero to join the party. But then…
From resembling a pub team that had been on a 12-hour bender, Jocelyn Angloma’s side started to play. A booming clearance found Thierry Ambrose, and with a delicate chest pass, he found Jordan Leborgne at the top of the Panamanian box. There was still plenty to do; however, Leborgne backed himself and curled a stunner into the top corner, beating a fully stretched Orlando Mosquera.
You couldn’t say Los Canaleros were rattled, but their play became unbelievably sloppy. From looking like world-beaters, they now resembled a team that had embarked on a grueling pub crawl.
On the Panama sideline, Christiansen could be seen warming up the half-time hairdryer as his team misplaced passes, failed to control the ball, and basically forgot how to play football.
Surely the interval would bring normal service; however, it would be Guadeloupe that would find the back of the net in the 71st minute as second-half substitute Florian David got his nose in front of José Córdoba, who clipped his heels. It felt like a stonewall penalty, but Herrera wasn’t convinced until VAR told him to take a second look.
After viewing what we all saw, he pointed to the spot, allowing David to scuff his penalty into the bottom corner and set the Gwada Boys’ hearts racing with 20 minutes left to play.
All they needed was one more chance; however, Panama then rediscovered that they were the favorites to win this match and started to re-establish control of proceedings.
With five minutes of added time and Guadeloupe tiring after putting in a shift trying to get back into the game, the fresh legs of Eric Javier Davis Grajales escaped down the left-hand side and floated a cross beyond Cognard to another Christiansen substitute, Tomás Rodríguez, to make the match safe.
Seven goals and a richly entertaining 90 minutes that will leave Panama asking questions about their mentality, while Guadeloupe can leave with their heads held high. The only dark spot was that the game was so poorly attended. 4pm kick-offs on a Monday in a city like Los Angeles are not conducive to big crowds which was a crying shame as both teams deserved an audience.
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| Grp C | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panama | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Guatemala | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Jamaica | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Guadeloupe | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |