Panama vs Honduras

Honduras will be looking to all but nail down a place in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup knock-outs when they lock horns with Panama at the BBVA Compass Stadium.

Despite falling behind three times against Qatar in their tournament opener, Panama eked out a 3-3 draw to keep their hopes of reaching out the knock-outs alive. ‘Los Canaleros’ are looking to progress from the Gold Cup group stages for the ninth tournament running, though their recent form could throw a spanner in the works. Indeed, Thomas Christiansen’s men take the field winless in three consecutive internationals (D1, L2), conceding precisely three goals apiece in the last two in a row. In competitive games, though, Panama boast an almost perfect record in 2021, having won all but one of their seven fixtures across all competitions since the turn of the year (D1). That said, they have failed to beat Honduras in each of their last three H2H meetings (D1, L2), going down 1-0 twice in the process.

In the meantime, Honduras brushed aside Grenada with an overwhelming 4-0 triumph on Matchday 1 to boost their hopes of returning to the Gold Cup knock-out phase following the 2019 fiasco. Yet, before beating the CONCACAF minnows, Honduras had been on a disappointing seven-game winless streak in all competitions, friendlies included (D4, L3 – 90 mins only). A lack of firepower up front saw Fabián Coito’s side net under 1.5 goals six times during that seven-game sequence, getting on the scoresheet inside the opening 30 minutes of play just once in that time. Encouragingly, though, ‘Los Catrachos’ have suffered just one defeat in their four Gold Cup encounters against Panama (W2, D1), courtesy of a 3-2 reverse in 2007.