Panama 0-0 Northern Ireland
They are World Cup-bound and nothing was going to spoil this party – not even a goalless draw!
In fact, to give you an idea of how secondary the game and result were, the kick-off was even delayed by 10 minutes due to an array of pre-game ceremonies, including a lengthy firework display.
It was that kind of night in a hot and humid Panama City.
In the country’s final home match before their first ever appearance at a World Cup – where they will face Belgium, England and Tunisia – this was a time of celebration for the Panamanians and a most enthusiastic send-off.
Such was the party atmosphere then, perhaps it was fortunate that midfielder Edgar Joel Barcenas’ first-half header came back off the crossbar.
The decibel levels could not get much higher as it was!
A failure to win, however, should not be considered a weakness. For this draw – and a 1-1 draw with Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales last November – shows Los Canaleros are not necessarily the pushovers their FIFA world ranking of 55th suggests.
Not only did they shuffle the pack, as captain Roman Torres was left on the substitutes bench, but they were up against a strong Northern Ireland side.
Manager Michael O’Neill may have given three players their international debuts – goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, midfielder Jordan Thompson and striker Shayne Lavery – but two of their introductions were late on.
West Brom defender Jonny Evans was named skipper and even played in central midfield in the absence of regular captain Steven Davis, while veteran defender Aaron Hughes won his 111th cap.
O’Neill, who now takes his men to San Jose to take on another nation warming up for the World Cup in Costa Rica, knows the Euro 2020 qualifiers, which begin this autumn, are his priority and he was encouraged by what he saw in sticky conditions.
“We did not have much time to acclimatise and the conditions were difficult for us. We would have liked to have had more scoring opportunities, but our goalkeeper was not too busy either, so I think the draw was fair.
“It would have been nice to win but we probably didn’t do enough to deserve that.”
They may be minnows on the world stage and may well face a heavy defeat or two, but they have some experience – Gabriel Gomez earned his 143rd cap here, top scorer Luis Tejada his 105th and captain Felipe Baloy his 102nd.
They deserve respect.
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