PANAMA AIMING TO FINISH ON AN HISTORIC HIGH
Panama v Tunisia Group G, Mordovia Arena, KO 7pm FROM DAVID McDONNELL
PANAMA are aiming to end their debut tournament on a high tonight and sign off from Russia with a win.
Veteran defender Felipe Baloy, who scored Panama’s first-ever World Cup finals goal in their 6-1 thumping by England, has challenged his side to take three points off Tunisia.
Both nations are already out but Baloy said it was important for Panama to register an “historic” victory.
Baloy, 37, who is retiring after this evening’s clash, said: “We’ve studied Tunisia, who are a difficult rival, but it’s still an opportunity to achieve an historic win.
“The experience in Russia has been top-notch and we hope that Panama can keep growing.
“As a group we’ve had a good coexistence, in which we’ve spent time with the youngest players, who will stay on.
“We can’t be over-confident against Tunisia and we can’t think it’s going to be easy. But we’re sure that our manager Hernan Dario Gomez knows what we have to do, and will do it in the best way.” PANAMA: Penedo, Machado, Torres, Escobar, Baloy, Davis, Barcenas, Avila, Godoy, Rodriguez, Perez TUNISIA: Mustapha, Nagguez, Ben Youssef, Meriah, Maaloul, Sassi, Skhiri, Sliti, Ben Youssef, Khazri, Badri