Christiansen calls Panama's “ideal” for closing qualifying

Panama City, March 17 (EFE) -. The coach of Panama's national soccer team, Spanish-Danish soccer team Thomas Christiansen, summoned 26 players on Thursday for the triple date in March and the final date of the Concacaf octagonal final ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Among the list are the novelties of goalkeeper Eric Huges, defender José Córdoba and midfielder Víctor Medina, the return of striker Cecilio Waterman and the absence of striker José Fajardo, one of the coach's regulars throughout the qualifiers. “These players that I have chosen are the right ones to face these three matches,” said the strategist at a press conference. He added that “the players know what they have to do” against Honduras, which “is our first final” and that a good result this March 24 will lead the group to have a good mood for the other clashes. He stressed that the duel against Honduras is a “trap match” and that we must not lose focus on the goal of “winning and doing well”. “I don't know the Honduran list, but I don't know if it's better for regulars or young players who want to show off and do well to be in future plans, that's why I say it's a trap match,” he said. As for the team's lack of goals, the coach thought about when the attackers who called live and hope to create goal situations. “Not creating objective situations is a problem. We have four good attackers, I hope they are creating the situation and that they are right about the goal,” he said. The Panamanians will face Honduras (March 24) and Canada (March 30) at home, and as visitors to the United States (March 27), all key duels in preparation for their eventual qualification for their second FIFA World Cup. Canada is the equality leader with 25 points, followed by the United States and Mexico, with 21 points each, in fourth place, with 17 points in total, is the Panama national team. Costa Rica is in fifth place, one point behind the Panamanians, and El Salvador (9 points) and Jamaica (7 points), sixth and seventh respectively, round out the table with just 3 points. List of callers from Panama: Goalkeepers: Luis Mejia, Orlando Mosquera, Cesar Samudio and Eric Hughes. Defenders: Fidel Escobar, Jorge Gutierrez, Michael Amir Murillo, Eric Davis, Andres Andrade, Cesar Blackman, Harold Cummings and José Cordoba. Midfielder: Cristian Martinez, Anibal Godoy, Abdiel Ayarza, Adalberto Carrasquilla, Alberto Quintero, Cesar Yanis, Edgar Yoel Barcenas, Jose Rodriguez, Freddy Gondola and Victor Medina. Forwards: Gabriel Torres, Cecilio Waterman, Rolando Blackburn and Ismael Diaz. CHIEF RAO/GF/JL (photo) (video)