Mexico vs Panama
Third plays fourth in the CONCACAF match of the week when World Cup 2022: Mexico vs Panama is the entertainment on offer at the Estadio Azteca on Thursday.
The top three teams will qualify for the Qatar World Cup while the fourth-placed team will face an inter-confederation playoff. After a fine set of results Panama are just a single point behind Mexico and the USA who hold second place, both on 18 points while Canada is in pole position on 22.
With four games to play Panama still have the USA and Canada to play, so they will have a huge say in the final outcome, but if Mexico can see off the threat of Los Canaleros then they will take a big step towards the finals. The hosts come into the game on the back of a 0-0 draw at home to Costa Rica while Panama won at home to Jamaica 3-2, so the pressure is now on El Tri to deliver in a huge game.
Talking Points
Mexico looking for their cutting edge
Mexico’s meeting with Costa Rica was never going to be a walkover but Gerardo Martino’s team would have hoped for more than a point, and the pre-match Mexico vs Panama betting odds put them right at the front in this next game against Panama. He has an experienced group of players, led by midfield general Hector Herrera, with some talented strikers playing in Europe’s best leagues.
Wolves forward Raul Jimenez and Napoli’s Hirving Lozano have been the mainstays up front in recent seasons, with support from Sevilla’s Jesus Corona and Martino will be relying on one of them to avoid drawing another blank.
The top two, Canada and USA came head to head last weekend and goals from Cyle Larin and Sam Adekugbe gave the young Canadian team a priceless three points, meaning the US, Mexico and Panama are in a three-way battle for two places. Now Mexico must be ruthless to see off one of their two main rivals.
Ambitious Panama have no respect for reputation
Los Canaleros are down in 63rd place in the FIFA World rankings 49 behind 14th placed Mexico but they won’t arrive at the Azteca arena with any fear whatsoever. They have already beaten USA in this campaign and, last weekend, they saw off a dangerous Jamaica side 3-2 which all but ended the Reggae Boyz’ hopes of qualification.
Panama went behind early in the game when West Ham’s prolific striker Michail Antonio gave Jamaica an early lead from the penalty spot, and when Eric Davis missed a penalty things began to look a little gloomy for Los Canaleros. But Jamaica gave them a helping hand with an own goal to level the scores before the break. Then Davis made amends for his penalty miss with a 51st minute goal, and Azmahar Ariano Navarro made it 3-1 with a sweeping finish. Jamaica’s Andre Gray halved the deficit but Panama held out for a deserved win.
Head coach Thomas Christiansen will be delighted by the way his side attacked with great intensity, but Mexico will be hopeful they can breach a Panama defence that has not kept a clean sheet since the middle of October. El Tri have scored in six of their last seven home games and so they will expect to hit the net more than once on Thursday.
History
Mexico have been to the World Cup finals 16 times while Panama are trying to make their second appearance, having debuted four year ago at Russia 2018; and pretty much all the stats are pointing to a home win here, which will make Panama’s task so much harder.
El Tri have had the better of the head-to-head Mexico vs Panama results, winning nine, drawing five and losing two of their encounters with Panama.
The return fixture ended in a 1-1 draw in Panama in a game dominated by Mexico, but they trailed to a Rolando Blackburn goal until the 75th minute when Sevilla striker Corona popped up with the leveller. Mexico won the previous four meetings, scoring ten goals and conceding just one and they are currently unbeaten at home in ten matches.
Betting Tip
 |
 | Mexico vs Panama | Over 2.50 @ 1.94 |
| February 3, 11:00 (GMT+8) |
Mexico are hot favourites at a SBOTOP price of 1.28 while the draw is at 4.55 and Panama are way out at 8.22.
Four of Panama’s last six games and five of Mexico’s have yielded three goals or more so I expect more of the same on Thursday from a Mexico side hungry for goals. A 3-0 home win is at odds of 7.14 and, incidentally, that was the outcome on the two encounters prior to the 1-1 draw in Panama.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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