First place in Group C as well as a spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals will be on the line Tuesday as Panama square off with Jamaica at Q2 Stadium.

Los Canaleros are assured a place into the last eight thanks to a 1-0 win over Guatemala, while Jamaica are currently second following a 2-1 triumph versus Guadeloupe.

Match preview

Persistence paid off for Panama on matchday two as the runners-up at this tournament two years ago registered eight efforts on target against the Guatemalans while allowing only one themselves.

Thomas Christiansen’s men are through to the quarter-finals for a second successive occasion and have a chance to win their group for a second straight time as well.

Coming into this encounter the Panamanians have won four successive international affairs, posting three clean sheets over that stretch with 11 goals scored.

With a victory on Tuesday, this team would end the group portion of this tournament with a 100% record for the very first time in their history.

They are unbeaten in their last four international encounters versus sides from the Caribbean, winning their only two matchups against that region this year.

Two of the previous three meetings between themselves and the Reggae Boyz went Panama’s way, the last one being in a 2022 World Cup qualifier (3-0).

Despite a slow start on matchday two, Jamaica persevered versus Guadeloupe, scoring twice in quick succession in the latter stages of the opening half.

That ended a two-match losing run for them in this competition dating back to the 2023 semi-finals, while they scored for the first time in the group phase of the Gold Cup since a 5-0 triumph versus Saint Kitts and Nevis in July 2023.

While they are sitting second in Group C at the moment, the Jamaicans are only above Guatemala for that final quarter-final place on account of scoring one more goal, so there is little room for error heading into this match.

Jamaica have failed to win their final group fixture in this competition in three of their previous four occasions, with their only victory over that stretch coming in 2023 against Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Steve McClaren’s men have won every one of their matches played when netting the opener since a 3-1 defeat to the USA in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals.

The Reggae Boyz have never lost a Gold Cup contest to Panama, claiming a 1-0 triumph the last time the two teams met in this competition in 2019.

Panama CONCACAF Gold Cup form:

Panama form (all competitions):

Jamaica CONCACAF Gold Cup form:

Jamaica form (all competitions):

Team News

In the victory over Guatemala, Anibay Godoy became the most capped player in Panamanian men’s history, starting alongside Carlos Harvey in a holding midfield role, while Edgardo Farina made his first appearance of the tournament off the bench.

Tomas Abdiel Rodriguez Mena replaced Eduardo Guerrero in the starting 11 as the lone striker on Friday and netted the winning goal, while Orlando Mosquera collected his first clean sheet of the competition.

McClaren brought in two new faces to his Jamaican starting 11 from matchday one to two with Dexter Lembikisa and Dwayne Atkinson replacing Damion Lowe and Renaldo Cephas.

Leon Bailey drew them level nine minutes after going behind to Guadeloupe, with Jon Russell scoring the winner in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time.

Panama possible starting lineup:

Mosquera; Murillo, Escobar, Andrade, Davis; Griffith, Harvey; J. Rodriguez, Martinez, Yanis; Mena

Jamaica possible starting lineup:

Blake; Lembikisa, King, Pinnock, Bell; Latibeaudiere; Bailey, Russell, Anderson, Gray; Brown

We say: Panama 1-1 Jamaica

Panama are ranked 30 places above the Jamaicans according to FIFA, but we expect they will be happy to just earn a point so long as they can avoid suffering any serious injuries on Tuesday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

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