A fresh breath of confidence surrounds the Panama national team as the final round of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup commences action on Friday. Third-placed Panama will hit the road to play Trinidad & Tobago who are lying in fifth place in the Hexagonal and four days later, they will later host the USMNT at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez. Victories against the bottom team would certainly boost their 2018 World Cup qualification chances. Let's just see how they will survive these hurdles.
Trinidad & Tobago
The Soca Warriors are searching for their first Hex win after beating Barbados 2-0 in a friendly match.
This time nothing less than a home win is needed for the Soca Warriors to keep their World Cup qualifying hope on track as they welcome Panama to Port of Spain. After Trinidad & Tobago came out of the wood with two defeats to start the Final-Round, head coach Stephen Hart was relieved from his duties and later he was replaced with Belgian coach Tom Santfiet, who's reign in charge of the team was short-lived after he failed to qualify T&T for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, ultimately leading to his early departure and the subsequent appointment of T&T ex-international Dennis Lawrence as the new head coach.
Head-to-head, Trinidad & Tobago are absolutely perfect posting a 4-0-0 mark and have never conceded a goal against THE Panama national team in the Hexagonal.
However, Friday's game will mark the first time that both national teams will be meeting after the 2005 Hexagonal.
Panama
The Los Canaleros were one of the big gunners from their opening two games using Fidel Escobar's 23rd-minute goal to seal a 0-1 away win over Honduras before returning home to dig out a 0-0 goalless draw with Mexico at Panama City.
The Panama national team will now hit the road on Friday to confront and unsettle a nascent Trinidad & Tobago team. Meanwhile, Los Canaleros head coach Herman Dario Gomez will certainly see this game as another opportunity to earn him an away maximum points. However, if they eventually win T&T, then Panama will be in a good position when they host the US national team at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama city four days later.
