WORLD CUP: BEER WE GO AGAIN
When we qualified, the country sold out of lager in 30 minutes. If we beat England...
ENGLAND PANAMA
VICTORY over England would spark the party to end all parties in Panama.
But the country’s supermarkets should not make the same error they did in November after qualification for the World Cup was sealed.
“There was basically a massive procession of cars through the streets in Panama City,” says Gary Stempel, the country’s half Englishhalf Panamanian Under-17 coach.
“Everyone was getting out of their cars and looking for a 24-hour supermarket to get beers.
“But they had all gone. They had sold out within 30 minutes of Panama qualifying for the tournament. The beer shelves were empty.”
Panama’s stock on the global football stage, meanwhile, was at an all-time high. A 3-0 defeat by Belgium in their opening match will have dampened expectations.
But this afternoon’s game against England represents an enormous moment for a country that was ranked 140th in the world when Stempel (below) returned to the country of his birth in 1996.
The 61-year-old had spent the previous decade working with Millwall in a community role that went a long way to transforming the way the club was viewed in Bermondsey and beyond.
You might argue that he has helped to do something similar in Panama. “The first time we went officially to a World Cup was in 2003 when I took the team to the Under-20 tournament in the UAE,” says Stempel, who managed the national team between 2008
and 2009.
Streets
“There was massive excitement and patriotism. We beat Mexico to get there, which was huge at the time.
“Things started to pick up then. I’m fortunate to have worked with a lot of these players. I’ve worked with the keepers, I coached Roman Torres, who scored the goal that took Panama to the World Cup.
“We literally found him on the streets, we picked him up out of nowhere. Then there’s Gabriel Torres, who I took to Manchester United, and seven or eight others.”
Now Panama have their sights set on upsetting England and achieving a result that would enter World Cup folklore.
And Stempel believes they don’t have to look too far for inspiration. “Panama are still an unknown quantity,” he says. “You only have to look at Costa Rica and everything they’ve achieved to see what’s possible.
“Panama will take huge confidence from what Costa Rica did to England in the last World Cup. Panama drew away to Costa Rica and beat them at home in qualifying.
“A tiny country with no professional league is up against players from the richest league on the planet.”