At 7 o'clock on January 31, Beijing time, the 10th round of the World Preliminary Round in North America continued, and Panama won a 3-2 victory over Jamaica at home to hold the fourth place in the standings. Now, Panama's promotion probability has suddenly soared to 70%, and it is expected to reach the World Cup for two consecutive years.
Panama currently ranks 63rd in the world and did not reach the World Cup until 2018. However, Panama was in a group with Belgium, England and Tunisia at the time, and suffered an embarrassing 3 consecutive defeats, scoring 2 goals and conceding 11 goals, leaving the bottom with 0 points.
In this World Preliminary Round, Panama once again entered the third stage, with 4 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses in the first 9 rounds, ranking 4th with 14 points, only ahead of Costa Rica behind them.
Against Jamaica, they delivered a penalty in the opening 2 minutes and Antonio scored to 0-1! One goal behind, Panama woke up like a dream, and immediately launched a fierce counterattack.
Before half-time, J-Brown swung himself under pressure to equalize with Panama. Easy to fight again, Panama completely let go of its hands. In the 50th minute, Brackovwin fired a long-range cannonball, the opposing goalkeeper got out of his hand, and Eric Davis scored from close range, 2-1!
In the 67th minute, Brackov win sent another assist and Ariano scored another goal to establish Panama's advantage 3-1. In the 86th minute, De Cordova Reid assisted Andre Gray to pull a goal back, but Panama had the last laugh. After 94 minutes of battle, 3-2 Nick Jamaica.
After scoring 3 points, the panamanian team knelt on the turf and celebrated passionately, and the number one hero, Brakov win, even almost burst into tears.
Panama not only achieved a two-legged double-elimination against Jamaica, but more importantly returned to the track of victory. So far, Panama continues to be in fourth place with 17 points, leaving Costa Rica behind 5 points. Jamaica, on the other hand, suffered three consecutive defeats, 10 points behind the promotion zone, and basically announced its exit early. In other words, this 3-2 game changed the fate of the three teams to a certain extent.
After this campaign, Panama's promotion probability soared from 59% to 70%, and it is expected to reach the World Cup for the second time, which is an absolutely remarkable achievement for the population of only 4.8 million.
In fact, Panama's original world ranking is not as good as the national football team, and the value is lower than the national football team. But after the World Preliminary Round, Panama has completed the rebound, and it is 11 places higher than the national football team.