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| (Image from RPCTV) |
The Octo continues. It delivers. Canada has just cleaned up Mexico on a CFL field with a giant Edmonton Elks logo still visible in the center circle. Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers are still the pinnacle of football. But while much of the talk after this November window will be about the interesting developments within the top 3 (Mexico getting zero points and Canada emerging as a powerful force far earlier than anticipated), another team quietly continued to take care of business in their quest to reach Qatar.
Panama erased a 1st minute goal by La Selecta's Jairo Henríquez to defeat El Salvador 2-1 at home and move on to 14 points. That's the same total as Mexico, and only one behind the US and two behind Canada.
I viciously slandered Panama before the Octo began, on account of their horrendous performance in the earlier rounds of qualifying that saw them need late winners to fend off the powerhouses of Barbados and Dominica. And their Gold Cup performance didn't look much better, failing to get out of the group stage, albeit with a tough draw.
But Thomas Christiansen's men have been anything but the weak team I suggested they would be. The results speak for themselves, and more than halfway through the Octo Panama are right in the mix. And as we look towards the January window, it is Los Canaleros that are the team to watch. There are essentially three scenarios for how the rest of qualification plays out, and they are all dependent on Panama's performance.
Perhaps the most likely scenario is that things stay roughly the same, and the North American trio run off to Qatar with the automatic places while Panama nervously await the inter-confederational draw and hope for a date with New Zealand.
The second is that Panama continue to win, and one of those big three slip up. Perhaps Mexico continues to spiral, perhaps Canada comes down to Earth. Perhaps the US does what the US does. In this case, one of the three will have to go to the playoff, and could end up losing to Uruguay or Colombia if things don't work out. If any of the top three somehow don't end up in Qatar, Panama will be responsible.
And the third scenario, maybe the most likely of the bunch, is that Panama are the ones to slip up, and Costa Rica are able to catch them and grab 4th. Things are looking grim for Jamaica, El Salvador, and Honduras, but the Ticos are still angling to get back to the big dance.
The most impactful game that remains on the schedule will be on January 27th, when Panama visit San José. This match will set the stage for the rest of qualification and send us down the path of one of the three scenarios depending on if Los Canaleros win, lose, or draw.
Everyone still has time to control their own destiny, but certainly it will be Panama who play the biggest role in this story the rest of the way.
