Panama

Panama U23

PanamaFounded: 1937Stadium: Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez, Ciudad de Panamá (45,000 seats)Coach: J. Dely Valdés

History

The Panama women's national football team (Spanish: selección femenina de fútbol de Panamá) represents Panama in international women's football. The team is overseen by the Federación Panameña de Fútbol. Panama has made four appearances at the CONCACAF W Championship, with their best result being the semi-final finish in 2018. In 2023, Panama made their debut in the FIFA Women's World Cup, finishing last in Group F.

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2000s

In 2002 Panama qualified for the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup for the first time after securing one of two spots in Central American Zone qualifying. They went 1–0–2 at the 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup and did not qualify for the knockout round.

Panama once again qualified for the Women's Gold Cup in 2006 after winning their qualifying group. Panama lost their first-round match 2–1 to Jamaica and were eliminated.

2010s

Panama did not participate in the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament as they did not enter Central American qualifying.

In 2013 Panama participated in the Central American Games for the first time. They went 1–0–1 and advanced to the semi-finals, where they lost to Costa Rica. Panama would finish in fourth place after losing the third place match to Guatemala.

Panama finished second in their group in 2014 Central American Qualifying and did not qualify for the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship as only the group winner advanced.

At the 2017 Central American Games, Panama improved on their result from four years ago by defeating El Salvador on penalties to finish in third place.

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship

After failing to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, Panama secured one of the two spots available in Central American Qualifying for the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, this marked their first appearance in the CONCACAF Women's Championship since 2006, after defeating Nicaragua and El Salvador. Their qualification was aided by the suspension of perennial rivals, Guatemala, by FIFA. Panama was drawn into Group A, alongside the United States, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.

Panama opened the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship with a 3–0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. They suffered a 5–0 loss to the United States in their second match. The score could have been much worse if not for the excellent performance from 17-year old goalkeeper Yenith Bailey, as she made several big saves against the US who had 18 shots on goal. Panama secured their spot in the semi-final by defeating Mexico 2–0 in their final group match. Bailey once again made some big saves, including saving a penalty in the first half. Panama was beaten by Canada 7–0 in the semi-final, but they would move on to the third place match where a win would secure them a spot in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. After drawing 2–2 with Jamaica and losing on penalties in the third-place match, Panama played against Argentina at the CONCACAF-CONMEBOL play-off to secure a spot for France 2019 but was eliminated from the qualification after losing 1–5 to the Argentines on aggregate.

2020 Olympic qualifiers

After failing to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the Panamanians turned their interest to the 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship qualification. In Central American qualifying, they were drawn into a group containing Guatemala and Honduras. Held at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City, they beat Honduras 3–0 in their first match but due to the Guatemalans beating Honduras 4–0, anything other than a win in their last game would eliminate them. But Panama held their nerve and secured their qualification to 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship after winning their group with 3–1 win.

At the championship, where the two finalists make the 2020 Olympics, Panama struggled immensely and couldn't recreate their 2018 performance. They first started with a poor 6–1 loss to Costa Rica, followed by a 8–0 loss to United States which eliminated them from Olympic contention. Also their goalkeeper, Yenith Bailey, was subbed off injured. In their final game, which was a dead rubber against Haiti, they had a dismal performance and lost 6–0, although they were very lucky that they didn't concede more. Las Caneleras ended the tournament with 0 wins and a –19 goal difference. After the competition, their manager Raiza Gutiérrez was replaced by Mexican coach, Ignacio Quintana.

2023 Women's World Cup qualifying

After comfortable victories against El Salvador, Belize, Aruba and Barbados, Panama qualified for the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.

They took part in the group stage, against its arch-rival and neighbor Costa Rica, alongside regional powerhouse Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. Panama suffered two defeats to Costa Rica and Canada losing its the chance to finish in top two. By winning 1–0 over Trinidad and Tobago in the third place match, Panama was able to qualify for the inter-confederation play-offs for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. In the inter-confederation play-offs, Panama defeated Papua New Guinea 2–0 and Paraguay 1–0 to qualify for the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup. Panama was the final team to qualify and will join Group F along with France, Jamaica, and Brazil.

2023 Women's World Cup

At the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Panama lost its opening match 4–0 to Brazil. In their second game, against Jamaica, they narrowly lost 1–0, which eliminated them from the tournament. In their final game, against France, they played an entertaining game, where Las Caneleras capped off their tournament with a 6–3 loss. Marta Cox scored her nation's first ever World Cup goal with a free kick from a long way out, which hit the top corner in the second minute. Their other goals were scored by Yomira Pinzón and Lineth Cedeño. After the match, French manager Herve Renard was severely disappointed with his team's performance.

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Squad

#GoalkeepersAgeAppsGoals
1M. Pérez2120
12E. Dimas2330
#DefendersAgeAppsGoals
2A. Rodríguez2210
5R. Perdomo2340
13J. Matos2230
16Jimar Sánchez2050
17A. Arroyo1940
20O. Davis2150
22J. Guevara2140
#MidfieldersAgeAppsGoals
4L. Fields2120
6M. Véliz2020
8M. Morán2340
14R. Tello2150
15E. Carrasquilla2220
#ForwardsAgeAppsGoals
3J. Méndez2320
7R. Phillips2331
9J. Alvarado2352
10Á. Orelién2353
11A. Pinzón2221
18Y. Murillo2340
19D. Contreras2230
21K. Lenis2340
23G. Herrera1830
24O. López2100