Group D

Schedule:  Bolivia (6/6 Camping World Stadium, Orlando), Argentina (6/10 Soldier Field, Chicago), and Chile (6/14 Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)

Head Coach: Hernán Darío Gómez

Best previous finish in Copa America: Inaugural Copa America appearance

Players to keep an eye on: GK Jaime Penedo (Saprissa, CRC),  DEF Felipe Baloy (Atlas), FWD Blas Perez (Vancouver Whitecaps), Luis Tejada (Juan Aurich)

Outlook:  The “Panama Papers” shed light on the illegal offshore accounts of holding billions of dollars of illegal assets with ties to money laundering and tax evasion.  On the heels of Panama’s rise to beat the US in the third place game in last year’s Gold Cup, that may the second most striking news to about Panama in the past year.

Panama is the only place in the world where one can see the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean and set on the Pacific. The team’s resume may not boast of top European leagues, but they are the greatest generation of footballing talent the nation has ever produced.

In regional competitions, Panama have shown a knack for punching above their weight. Placed in a group that includes the World’s #1 and #3 ranked teams (Argentina and Chile), advancing into the knockout-rounds would solidify Panama’s legend as Giant Killers.    

Under Gómez,  Panama plays a tough and aggressive style relying on moxie as much as luck–in the Gold Cup Panama drew its three group-play games and advanced each time on penalty kicks.  

The margin for error will be even slimmer with center back Roman Torres still recovering from knee injury sustained with the Seattle Sounders. As it were, Panama are fielding one of the oldest rosters at the Copa with as many as eight likely starters in their 30’s.  In their twilight, this veteran crew is hoping it has enough in the tank to build on their Gold Cup success and ultimately give Panama that  elusive first World Cup berth before the sun sets on their legacy.

Did you know? ”A man, a plan, a canal, Panama” is one of the more intermediate level examples of palindromic expression. Using Python,  a programmer created the world’s longest palindrome sentence at 17,826 words. The final word? Panama.