If Panama or Bolivia are to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Copa America then they simply have to win when they open up Group D against each other in Orlando on Monday night.
With Argentina and Chile waiting in the wings whoever loses this match can pretty much wave goodbye to the tournament and even then the winners are going to have to play out of their skins to come out of this group.
Panama have good memories of the United States having finished third in the Gold Cup there last year and they were only the latest of late penalties from beating Mexico in the semi-final and going through to face Jamaica in the final.
Amazingly all six matches Panama played in that tournament finished 1-1 after 90 minutes which is pretty remarkable and makes me wonder if we should cover that scoreline here just in case! Panama have named a very experienced squad for this tournament but haven’t been helped with the draw.
For the first time since 1997 Bolivia came out of their group in this tournament 12 months ago but their run was soon ended in the quarter finals when they were comfortably seen off by Peru but they have something to try and build on at least.
If their World Cup qualifying campaign is anything to go by then they are going to struggle to build on it because in six matches they have managed just a solitary win, which came against Venezuela so they haven’t been pulling up many trees it has to be said. They warmed up for this tournament with a friendly against the USA in which they were well beaten, a result which looks even worse in light of USA’s demise on Friday.
Team news
Panama will be choosing between the Vancouver forward Blaz Perez and Luis Tejada who plays his club football in Peru as to who leads the line. Given the must win nature of this match it might be that they both get a start which would be a statement of intent.
Bolivia are without Marcelo Moreno for this tournament as the Chinese based forward was only named in the preliminary squad and not the full one. All eyes will be on Bolivar forward Juan Carlos Arce from an attacking point of view in what is an inexperienced Bolivia squad.
Head to head
These two nations have met on eight previous occasions with the first match dating back to 1970 and their most recent meeting coming five years ago. Panama have won three matches including the last two while Bolivia have four wins to their name. They have also drawn a match as well.
Betting
Panama are improving at this level but I wouldn’t have thought they would have gone into many matches as the favourites to win, and comfortable favourites at that, so it will be interesting to see if that affects their mindset during this game.
Bolivia are in a familiar position in that they are clear outsiders but this game is slightly different because it is simply must win for both sides. I wonder if they will go out on the offensive like they did when in a similar position against Ecuador last season or whether they will look to soak up play and frustrate Panama and attempt to nab something on the counter.
If I could have got a better price on Panama I might have been tempted to back them but that run of draws they had last year was pretty remarkable and I wonder if my old adage of must win matches equating to the result nobody wants as in a draw will right true here. I guess a draw keeps both alive for a while longer but long term does nothing for them.
I’m going to sit this one out. I just don’t quite trust Panama enough to get the job done even though I make them rightful favourites for the game and the price doesn’t tempt me enough to take a chance on them.
Tips
No Bet
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