Panama City, Nov 16 (EFE) .- The Panamanian soccer team prevailed this Tuesday in a comeback over El Salvador by 2-1 and with 14 points out of 24 possible they kept fourth place in the octagonal final of the qualifying rounds of the Concacaf.
However, the Central Americans were closer to the three positions of direct classification.
The Panamanians were just getting comfortable on the court today when an error by defender Andrés Andrade left Jairo Henríquez in control of the ball.
He then released a powerful shot that gave goalkeeper Luis Mejía no margin. It was the first minute of play.
With the disadvantage, the locals stepped on the accelerator in search of the equalizer and at minute 9 they had the first option in an off-hook from Cecilio Waterman.
Five minutes later, César Yanis appeared, who gave a filtered ball to Omar Browne, but the latter’s shot was easily controlled by El Salvador goalkeeper Mario González.
The clearest first came from José Fajardo, who, on an off-hook by Adalberto Carrasquilla, received Yanis’ qualification, but his shot went far from the rival goal.
After this, it was almost all of Panama, the other clear save by goalkeeper González arrived at minute 21, covering Michael Amir Murillo’s shot.
Three minutes later, a center put by Jairo Henríquez reached the head of Joaquín Rivas, but Mejía saved his goal, avoiding the second of the select.
Aníbal Godoy finished in the 28th minute, but the El Salvador goalkeeper delivered his fists.
With a Panama on top, the Salvadorans held in the background maintaining the result.
In the 48th minute of the first half replacement, Godoy finished off, but his powerful shot hit the crossbar and a second shot from Carrasquilla went over the top of the Salvadoran goal.
With this play, the Mexican Marco Ortiz ended the first half of the match.
In the second half, the Panamanians never slowed down in their attack and that paid off in a short time.
At minute 50, César Yanis escaped from a sea of kicks, to yield to Freddy Gondola, he took a center and Cecilio Waterman headed the equalizer on the scoreboard.
That tie gave more push to the locals, two minutes later the fans exploded again, this time in a combination of Aníbal Godoy, Amir Murillo, the latter crossed with his head, so that Freddy Gondola pushed the ball to the bottom of the Salvadoran bow.
With the 2 to 1 in the table, the Panamanians showed that fine touch to keep the ball and incidentally move the rival away from their definition area.
At minute 69, César Yanis tried from long distance, which he demanded from the Salvadoran goalkeeper Mario González, who took the corner kick hard.
The last half hour time slips between plays without danger, El Salvador did not know how to react after the two goals.
With Panama managing the times, the end of the game came, to add three important points, which leaves them in the fourth box with 14 units, while El Salvador remains with 6 points, at the bottom of the classification.
– Datasheet:
2. Panama: Luis Mejía; Michael Amir Murillo, Fidel Escobar, Andrés Andrade, Eric Davis; Aníbal Godoy, Adalberto Carrasquilla, César Yanis (m.75, Cristian Martínez), Omar Browne (m.46, Freddy Góndola), José Fajardo (m.69, José Luis Rodríguez); Cecilio Waterman (d.62, Rolando Blackburn).
Coach: Thomas Chrisitiansen.
1. El Salvador: Mario González; Alexander Larín, Eriq Zavaleta (min.38, Eduardo Vigil), Cristian Martínez (min.73, Kevin Rojas), Byan Tamacas; Alexander León, Ronald Gómez, Bryan Landaverde (m.46, Darwin Cerén), Jairo Henríquez (m.80, Christian Sorto), Joaquín Rivas; Enrico Dueñas.
Coach: Hugo Pérez.
Goals: 0-1, m.1: Jairo Henríquez. 1-1, m.50: Cecilio Waterman. 2-1, m.52: Freddy Gondola.
Referee: Mexican Marco Ortiz admonished Salvadoran Bryan Landaverde and Panamanian José Fajardo.
Incidents: Match of the eighth day of the Concacaf qualifying rounds of the Qatar 2022 World Cup played at the Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez stadium, in the Panamanian capital.
(c) EFE Agency
