Panama welcome Mexico to the AT&T Stadium this Friday in the CONCACAF Nations League Play-offs. Both teams are looking for the win to book their place in the Final of the Nations League.
Date: 22/03/2024
Kick-off time: 02:15 (GMT)
Location: AT&T Stadium
The clash between Panama and Mexico does lead to the Final where both sides will be eager to get their hands on a trophy. Being in the Semi-final has already booked their place at the Copa America but a win can bring good momentum into the competition this summer.
Panama were drawn into Group A where they faced Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, Guatemala, Curacao and El Salvador. In four games, Panama picked up three wins and one draw, finishing top of the group and unbeaten. From there Panama progressed into the Quarter-finals where they beat Costa Rica over two legs.
The Canal Men have only competed in the Copa America once back in 2016. Panama were drawn into Group D with Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. However, with just one win and two losses in three games, Panama crashed out at the group stage.
Mexico, on the other hand, were granted access straight to the Quarter-final stage. This is due to their CONCACAF ranking, of which Mexico currently sit top with 1,909 points, 73 more points than second-place United States. El Tricolour then beat Honduras over two legs to book their place in the Semi-finals.
El Tricolour have competed in the Copa America on ten occasions, but have been out of the competition since 2016 due to not being invited. However, CONCACAF nations can now compete and Mexico look to beat their best ever finish of runners-up, where they finished in 1993 and 2001.
Panama and Mexico have met 42 times in their histories, the first meeting coming back in an international friendly in 1937. Mexico has the far better record in the fixture with 25 wins in comparison to Panama’s five wins. In fact, a draw is far more common than a Panama win, happening on 12 occasions.
The last five games in all competitions, there have been four wins for Mexico and one draw. This tie rarely sees a lot of goals and usually sees just one team on the scoresheet. Only one game in the last six meetings has seen both teams finding the back of the net.
