There’s trouble in Panama...
Coronavirus may have ended Panama’s 2022 World Cup dream already
When Panama arrived at the 2018 World Cup, they were the apple of world football’s eye. Two years later, everything has gone not so much pear- shaped as hexagonal for Los Canaleros.
In a deeply questionable piece of FIFA planning, the CONCACAF qualifying phase for Qatar 2022 has been turned into something approaching a lottery, and it’s clear that Panama don’t have access to the numbers. In fact, it’s not clear whether they had any access to anything, including the information required to give themselves a chance of advancing to two World Cup finals in a row.
Gary Stempel, who took over as interim boss after the resignation of Hernan Dario Gomez following the 2018 tournament, has witnessed the meltdown at first- hand. “It hasn’t been a great couple of years,” Millwall’s former community outreach officer tells FFT. “Qualifying for the last World Cup is something no one here will ever forget, but have we made the most of the opportunity it presented? I think you would have to say no, we haven’t.”
The board running football in Panama has resembled a merry- go- round since Russia 2018 – and things got worse when CONCACAF unveiled the new format for World Cup qualifying, giving new strength to ‘ The Hex’.
The Hex, aptly named if you’re not in it, is a six- team group from which the top three progress to the 2022 World Cup, as was the case in 2018. This time, though, there’s no pre- qualifying round to secure your spot in the Hex – you’re either in, or you’re out.
The top six CONCACAF teams in June’s FIFA rankings are automatically in, but with coronavirus kiboshing all fixtures before then, Panama are out: as of April’s standings, the top six were Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras and El Salvador. There’s no place either for Alphonso Davies’ Canada, joint hosts of the 2026 World Cup.
Worse still, when the format switch was first mooted, initial indications suggested that CONCACAF’S internal rankings would be used, rather than FIFA’S equivalent. With Panama nestled in the top six of the CONCACAF internal rankings, they booked tough friendlies against the USA, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in 2019, losing three of them 3- 0 and drawing with Brazil – negatively impacting their FIFA ranking.
The forced cancellation of their recent internationals against El Salvador and Costa Rica was the final insult of the farcical affair. “Panama were effectively playing World Cup qualifiers without knowing it,” says Stempel, who stood aside last year to let Julio Dely Valdes take over. Dely Veldes has since been replaced by Americo Gallego. “The whole thing is an absolute mess.”
There remains the tiniest glimmer of hope, however: Panama will head into what’s effectively a repechage competition with 29 other nations, the winner of which will face a play- off against the fourth- placed team in the Hex. Win that, and they’ll go into another play- off against a team from another continent. Win that, and they’ll reach the 2022 World Cup. Easy.