This Panama team was barely better than this cycle's Honduras team and only beat them out by goal differential in qualifiers. I think Honduras under Suarez and before that Rueda were a bit more dangerous and deeper than this Panama. This Panama is just plain old and relies on those old players a bit too much.
Admittingly, nothing more than eyeball test, really. I just think Panamas best players are better than Honduras best players. Gabriel gomez, Gabriel torres, Penedo in net, baloy, gadoy... I think they all will show well. Unfortunately, Blas Perez is getting long in the tooth. If he were younger, I could see him being extremely frustrating because of his strength. Alas, 2014 was probably more his time, though. I also think Panama plays disciplined defense well, aside from whatever that 4-0 game was in Nashville.
Those players are all getting a bit long in the tooth. If they can somehow, some way play out of their minds and inspired maybe they can have a better showing than Honduras of last cycle. I just extremely doubt it.
Outside of maybe Ismael Díaz (Deportivo La Coruña B), not that I'm aware. Wouldn't be surprised if more than half of their starting 11 is over 30, with half of them 35+
Probably because CONCACAF is in it's worst state in decades. I mean, Mexico, while talented managed to glide through qualification through a sheer edge on talent despite questionable coaching, Costa Rica has lowered it's overall level in comparison to 2014 while not getting enough young players to replace it's older core. Meanwhile the US became a literal dumpster fire, overly relying on old, fading players that for the most part play on the MLS which, let's face it, it's a garbage league. And beyond those three teams, the region just has no talent. And despite all that Panama qualified with only like, 13 or 14 points (which is quite low for a team going straight up to the cup), the most of it coming from home games.
I look at Costa Ricas Squad, and the age are not so high, many are 27,28 and 29. And a few are 31- 35. I mean with that experience from Brazil too they could be be better but they are not. Yes 14 points are very low indeed.
Doesn't really prove any point to be honest except I think you're talking nonsense. You're acting like you know and understand how the vast majority of English fans and players will be thinking. We're not in any position to be taking any of our opponents lightly given our history and most level headed Englishman know this. You really think we are super confident of even getting through our group considering the amount of failures we have been routinely subjected to? England fans in general are some of the most pessimistic I've seen so not really sure what you are basing this on.
Ignore him, I think he is a troll, though I have to admit this 'English fans arrogance' thing does the rounds, lord knows why! I don't think I know a LESS arrogant bunch than the English, just compare what the English say compared to (for example) the Italians! In fact the pessimism of the 'English' is rather extraordinary, so much so that most of the 'English' I know can't stand their own national team and would rather there wasn't even such a thing as the World Cup! In fact I don't think I have EVER seen a less cared about World Cup than the approaching one, nobody I know (including me actually) really cares about international football anymore (in fat I would be happy if they just scrapped it altogether) and yet STILL I hear about this so called 'arrogance'! If you look at the number of English posters and look at the number of comments (interest) on this thread compared to threads on 'other' groups I think it says it all really.
I do enjoy self-deprecating humour. Quite a few countries do it well, including my own, but British fans are champions of this sort of thing. A big thumbsup when it's actually funny, good for a few laughs. Yet among supporters, of any team really, you also encounter obsessive, mindless self-flagellation and feigned humility. Not exactly comedy gold. At times it even rubs me the wrong way, especially feigned humility is frowned upon in my country. I'd rather pretend to be arrogant and make a few cocky statements instead, to add a bit of balance, seeing there are far too many miserable pessimists. I hope those guys can at least cheer up once in a while and maybe even crack a smile (unless that hurts them). A fair amount of England fans are probably too pessimistic (TBF not as bad as the Russians and a lot of other EEs who have pessimism hard-coded into their DNA). England's future looks promising as long as success in youth competitions is translated into the senior team. In Russia, anything less than the quarters should be viewed as failure (same goes for Belgium). This article makes me feel that England lack ambition. If Southgate fails to survive this group he should be sent to Siberia.
I saw a Panama side minus some of their MLS starters against Iran. In the first half of that match, Panama looked entirely amateurish and was lucky the game hadn't been already decided by a lopsided margin. Indeed, I felt Iran played below par and wasn't having a good day against a Panama side that seemed totally out of its league. When Iran jumped ahead 2:0 inside the first 30 minutes (missing some good chances to boot), it really looked to me that the game would end 5:0 or something. But it didn't. Panama were awarded a questionable penalty late in the first half that offset a somewhat questionable penalty Iran had been awarded earlier, and the first half ended 2:1. In the 2nd half, Panama played better and, with Iran rotating its players, possession evened out. In that 2nd half, Panama created at least 1 or 2 clear cut chances, while Iran was no longer creating chances at will. To be sure, we also created a couple of chances as well, but overall we looked disjointed and were playing very poorly in my eyes. Iran won the match 2:1 and I was left unsure about either Iran or Panama! I was upset Iran hadn't totally thrashed Panama in the first half, when Panama looked entirely out of its league. In the first half, Panama (at least without their MLS players) appeared considerably below even Qatar, UAE and the traditional 2nd tier sides in the AFC. In the 2nd half, they appeared a little better and reminded me of the kind of teams I mentioned (e.g., Qatar, UAE et al) playing against an Iranian team that seemed to be suffering from lack of cohesion resulting from all the substitutions being made. I assume Panama's MLS players would make them a considerably stronger side. In which case, they would be better than the Honduras side I saw in World Cup 2014. But without their MLS players, Panama really looked even worse than Honduras in World Cup 2014 and Honduras didn't really impress in that tournament!
ahh oki, Yes i saw highlights from Iran - Panama, it was like you said. yes like the two Torres and Perez, but he is 36. I can be very wrong now but if they start with Gabrel Torres and Ismael Diaz at top and Perez can play the second half maybe,
An article that was published on 7 February reveals that Khedira has rejected the Tunisian national team. I think his explanation makes a lot of sense, although he would definitely have been an upgrade for a team that has very few players at European clubs. As for Coulibaly, he's already played a competitive FIFA game for Ivory Coast, which should make him cap-tied for good. Also, it seems that Tunisia isn't that interested in pursuing him in any case, based on this article from 6 February. There is another player that's been linked with Tunisia and, just like Sami's brother, declined a call-up. The Sevilla striker Wissam Ben Yedder has Tunisian origin, but was born and raised in France. While it is unlikely that we'll see him in the Les Bleus' squad this summer, he is a quality forward who would probably have no difficulty getting a starting spot at the World Cup had he identified culturally with his parents' home country. Here is a BBC article from October last year.
Ellyes Skhiri commits his international future to Tunisia. I guess Skhiri had a change of heart. Before it sounded like he was holding out for a call from Deschamps but with the sheer amount of talents France are producing these days Skhiri would have had a huge fight on his hands to get a look in.
I have got tickets for the Round of 16 match in Rostov where runners up of Group G will go against the winners of Group H. I would say it would be Colombia against either Belgium or England. For all the flak the Three Lions have received, I feel they will most certainly make it through the group stages this time!
I think Tunisia have pretty good team with some interesting players. And its more fun to see them play now. How good is Ellyes Skhiri ?
Latest FIFA ranking (April 2018, incl. results from this month's international break): 3. Belgium . . . 13. England 14. Tunisia . . . 55. Panama
One of Tunisia's best players, Msakni, will have to forfeit because of an ACL injury. England’s first opponents at the World Cup - Tunisia - appear to have suffered a huge blow. Reports that Youssef Msakni, one of their key players (along with Wahbi Khazri perhaps THE key player) has suffered a cruciate ligament injury.— John Bennett (@JohnBennettBBC) April 7, 2018