The selection of Panama won this Sunday with a comeback and with anguish by 3-2 to that of Jamaica on the tenth date of the octagonal final of the qualifying rounds of the Concacaf and from fourth place it maintains pressure on Mexico, which retains the third and last direct place in the World Cup in Qatar.
Panama remains in fourth place with 17 points and Jamaica, which was stationed at the bottom of the final octagonal standings with 7 points.
In minute 4, a foul in the Panamanian area led Honduran referee Selvin Brown to consult VAR and award a penalty to the visitors. A minute later, Michail Antonio put the Reggae Boyz ahead with a shot from his right foot that goalkeeper Luis Mejía could do nothing about.
The Panamanians turned to Jamaica in search of the tie, which could have reached the 18th minute, also through a penalty on Alberto Quintero, but Eric Davis’ shot was stopped by goalkeeper Andre Blake.
Anibal Godoy (Panama) disputes a ball with Devon Williams (Jamaica)
Fidel Escobar in the 40th minute headed a cross from Davis, but the horizontal returned the ball. Just three minutes later, an Édgar Yoel Bárcenas cross, half deflected by Blake, hit defender Javain Brown and ended up in the bottom of the goal to make it 1-1 temporarily.
In the second half, the Panamanians increased their pressure on Blake’s goal. In the 51st minute Davis established the comeback by taking advantage of a loose clearance by the Jamaican goalkeeper.
The Panamanians’ third goal came in the 69th minute in a play in which Davis centered a ball, Blackburn headed into the center and Azmahar Ariano scored the goal with a left foot. The visitors sought to discount and the reaction occurred three minutes from the end of regulation time, when Andre Gray headed alone for 3-2.
On the eleventh day, which will be played on February 2, Jamaica will host Costa Rica and Panama will visit Mexico.
DATA SHEET
Panama-Jamaica 3-2
3 – Panama: Luis Mejía, Michael Murillo, Fidel Escobar, Andrés Andrade (m.37, Harold Cummings)(m.56, Azmahar Ariano), Eric Davis; Anibal Godoy, Adalberto Carrasquilla (m.77, Cristian Martínez), Alberto Quintero (m.77, Abdiel Ayarza), Édgar Bárcenas (m.77, Freddy Góndola), César Yanis, Rolando Blackburn.
Coach: Thomas Christiansen
2 – Jamaica: Andrew Blake; Adrian Mariapa, Ethan Pinnock, Kemar Lawrence (d.65, Andre Gray), Javain Brown; Devain Brown, Daniel Jhonson (m.55, Lamar Walker), Ravel Morrison (m.65, Kevin Stewart), Bobby Reid; Corey Burke (m.46, Junior Flemmings) and Michail Antonio.
Coach: Paul Hall
Referee: Honduran Selvin Brown admonished Jamaican Ravel Morrison and Ethan Pinnock.
Goals: 0-1, Michail Antonio, from a penalty (m. 5); 1-1, Javain Brown, own goal (m. 43); 2-1, Eric Davis (d. 51); 3-1, Azmahar Ariano (d. 69); 3-2, Andre Gray (d. 87)
Incidents: Match of the tenth day of the octagonal final of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup played at the Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez Stadium, in the Panamanian capital.
