Panama coach Thomas Christiansen and defender Amir Murillo have offered their views on Bafana Bafana as opponents for the upcoming back-to-back international friendly matches.
The two sides clash at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday, before another match at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday. They are both preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While Bafana will be gracing the World Cup for the fourth time, their opponents will be making a second appearance at the quadrennial global competition. South Africa and Panama have previously met once, in July 2005 at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
That quarter-final tie at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, ended 1-1, but Panama prevailed over Stuart Baxter’s men 5-3 on penalties with Ricardo Katza missing Bafana’s kick. Now, meeting 21 years later, a lot has changed between the two teams.
Back then, the Central Americans had never tasted World Cup football. After debuting at the 2018 edition, they are back and will be in Group L together with Ghana, Croatia and England, who hammered them 6-1 in Russia.
WHY PANAMA CHOSE BAFANA BAFANA
“The goal is to play against an African team. There are constant similarities with Ghana to what we will find with South Africa, and that was the objective,” said Christiansen.
“By playing two games against them, we can also change our ideas, positions, and players, and that’s what we want. It also gives us the possibility of rotating a bit and giving minutes to others who perhaps haven’t seen any playing time with the national team.”
Most Panama players are not high-profile global stars, but Besiktas right-back Amir Murillo is one of those playing their trade in Europe.
WHAT PANAMA KNOW ABOUT BAFANA
“We want to start right now to get a clear idea of what the coach wants and what he has in mind for the World Cup matches,” Murillo added.
“I arrived in good physical and mental shape, and I’m very eager to play, after not being able to play the last few games with the national team. We all know what South Africa is like, they are a great team, they have good players, and hopefully it will be a good match for us.”
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