Panama will receive the eliminated Honduras this Thursday, in the twelfth day of the Concacaf pre-world championship, with the sole objective of achieving a victory that allows it to continue dreaming of qualifying directly for Qatar-2022.
The duel, to be played at the Rommel Fernández stadium (01:00 GMT on Friday), in Panama City, is presented for the canaleros as a final.
A local victory and a setback for Costa Rica, which hosts leader Canada, would leave the Panamanians one step away from securing, at least, the playoffs.
A victory would also allow Panama to get closer to the positions that give direct access to the World Cup.
However, the Panamanian coach, the Spanish-Danish Thomas Christiansen, does not want trust, despite the fact that Honduras will appear without its main components.
“It’s still a cheat game, Honduras will come with young kids with enthusiasm, wanting to impress and have their place in the team. That’s why we have to play a serious game, respecting the rival, but from minute one go out to win” Christiansen said.
The Concacaf octagonal grants three direct tickets to Qatar-2020 and the possibility of a playoff for the fourth-placed team against the winner of the Oceania qualifier.
With three days to go, Canada, with 25 units, leads the octogoanal and this Thursday they can seal their classification, followed by the United States and Mexico, with 21, Panama with 17, Costa Rica with 16. They are followed by El Salvador, with 9 points, Jamaica with 7 and Honduras with 3.
The main Panamanian doubt to face the ‘H’ is on the left side, where Eric Davis is out due to suspension.
After facing Honduras, Panama, which aspires to play its second World Cup, will play a visit against the United States and will close at home against Canada.
– ‘Bolillo’ Gomez returns to Panama –
For its part, Honduras arrives in Panama without any chance of qualifying. The catrachos are bottom of the pre-world championship, where they still do not know the victory and have only achieved three draws and eight defeats.
The morbidity of the appointment will be put by his coach, the Colombian Hernán Darío Gómez, who returns to Panama after qualifying the selection of this country for the first time to a World Cup in Russia-2018.
The ‘Bolillo’ seeks to renew a catracha team whose last World Cup participation was in Brazil-2014.
In Panama, the coffee technician will not have his two figures, the tips Alberth Elis and Anthony Lozano. Neither will the captain and defender Maynor Figueroa, nor the midfielders Alfredo Mejía and Deiby Flores.
“We have brought players who have been with us for a short time, we want to look at different options to put together an eleven for the match against Panama. Honduras is not in a good moment, but we are going to be a team that has dignity and can at least get results” , pointed out the ‘Bolillo’.
Possible lineups:
Panama: Luis Mejía – Michael Murillo, Andrés Andrade, Fidel Escobar, Jorge Gutiérrez – Aníbal Godoy, Adalberto Carrasquilla – Édgar Bárcenas, Alberto Quintero, José Luis Rodríguez – Rolando Blackburn. DT: Thomas Christiansen
Honduras: Luis Lopez – Marcelo Santos, Denil Maldonado, Marcelo Pereira, Franklin Flores – Kervin Arriaga, Brayan Acosta, Edwin Rodríguez, Alex López – Romell Quioto and Edwin Solano. DT: Hernan Dario Gomez
