The United States will face Panama on Sunday with the aim of strengthening its leadership in CONCACAF, which is valued at Qatar 2022.
Gringos have a point in their favour, with their young striker Ricardo Pepe’s superb moment, as well as the fact that their opponent has arrived in pain after their first defeat of the match, the previous Thursday against El Salvador.
That is why the duel, which will take place at the Rommel Fernandez Stadium in Panama City, is facing two teams in very different atmospheres.
An American victory would mean a third win in a row and lead to Uncle Sam’s chances of being at last year’s World Cup. However, its artistic director, Greg Berhalter, called for caution.
“We can’t get carried away, the catch is that if we think we’re great and that we’ve already qualified for the World Cup, we’re going to kick our ass in Panama on Sunday,” the coach said after his victory over Jamaica on Thursday.
Berhalter confirmed on Saturday that Panama were very consistent during the match
“They don’t leave many chances, it’s a very physically strong team, they will be very aggressive and give a very good attack,” he added.
Berhalter managed to restore the team by betting on promising youngsters such as Mexican striker Ricardo Pepe. This talented MLS Dallas striker has already scored three goals in the competition, the last two against Jamaica.
“It’s surprising that, overall, there hasn’t been enough talked about how young this team is and what we’re doing,” said the North American helmsman.
For Canaleros, the victory will allow them to continue dreaming of the possibility of playing the World Cup for the second time.
“I want to go with everything, I want to win, I want to be aggressive, dominate and create chances, at home we always have to win, no matter who is the opponent, Mexico or the United States, we have to eat it tomorrow,” coach Thomas Christiansen said.
In other confrontations, Honduras will visit the Azteca Stadium on Sunday to face Mexico, which stumbled on its own home.
In the previous two World Cup qualifiers, for Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, El Caracho made life difficult for the Aztecs in this case. On September 6, 2013, they starred in “Aztecazo” with a 2-1 victory and in 2016, also on September 6, they drew 0-0.
Unlike those teams in Honduras, led by Colombian Luis Fernando Suarez and Jorge Luis Pinto, respectively, the current team, under Uruguay coach Fabian Quito, has not generated much confidence in their environment.
“The Honduran generation is faltering,” former Catracho soccer player Julio Cesar ‘Rambo’ de Leon told the Mexican press. “We are light years from Mexico.”
This will be Mexico’s third game at the Azteca Stadium in this eight shape, and they are forced to win it because then they will run three consecutive draws for the end of the year: to El Salvador on October 13, to the United States on November 12 and to the United States. Canada in the sixteenth.
Also as part of Sunday, Jamaica will host inspiring Canada, which has great motivation after a 1-1 draw in their visit to Mexico.
