🇵🇦 Panama's next chance to take the next step
I spoke to Thomas Christiansen about getting over the hump
Thomas Christiansen is not much of a rah-rah guy. The Panama manager, a Dane who spent most of his career in Spain, opts for sensible suits and sweaters on the sideline. He’s more about game plan than ‘Win one for the Gipper’.
So it was notable last week at the Concacaf Nations League Final Four when, downright casual in a suit with no tie, Christiansen gave something of a pep talk.
“The ambition we have on the coaching staff, the players, the fans who have grown with these last few results, we want to give our best and why not dream about this title?” he said.
A man as practical as the 51-year-old, though, knows that dreams will stay dreams unless they’re supported with action.
Panama has done well for itself considering its sporting history as a baseball country and its size of around 4 million, larger only than Uruguay in Latin America.
After making its first men’s World Cup appearance in 2018, the national team refused to fall off the map. Despite missing the 2022 World Cup, the federation stuck with Christiansen and enjoyed one of its best years ever in 2023.
Panama made the final of the Gold Cup, falling to Mexico, 1-0. It established itself as the top team in Central America, continually beating Costa Rica. And it got here to the Nations League Final Four where a rematch with El Tri awaits in the semifinal next week.
Those are all great achievements, worth celebrating. But to avoid being a ‘nearly team’ and move from the realm of plucky team that can pull off an upset to true contender in the Concacaf region, it must get results. To really belong in the upper echelons of the region, it’s time to deliver a trophy.
“First of all we want to beat Mexico,” Christiansen told me when I asked what he’d consider a success in Nations League and Copa América. “That’d be the first step and another step forward. Last year, in Nations League we finished fourth, and this time we want to be in the final.”
So, how does Panama actually take that next step? Right now, the team’s depth can’t compare with that of the current top squads in the region, meaning the margin for error is that much smaller
“What’s clear is that we can’t let ourselves go onto the field and give 90, 95 percent because there are teams like the United States, Mexico, also Jamaica, who are very strong,” Christiansen said. “If we don’t compete at 100 percent, the chances these matches are lower, they’re not optimal.”
It may seem like back-of-the-envelope math. Get 100 percent out of your team and win, get 90 percent out of them and likely don’t. But it also speaks to the level of intensity Christiansen wants to see in his players.
I asked about Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla, who had a phenomenal season for both the Houston Dynamo and the national team. The manager is happy with the player, but he also is trying to hold Carrasquilla to a higher standard than perhaps the 25-year-old rising star has been used to.
“He had a really good Gold Cup. After that, there were some matches after that where the level wasn’t as high,” the manager said. “We need him to always keep his level of competition up. He came back. With the games against Costa Rica, he started to hit his ceiling again and that’s the demand you have to have to, for example, go to Europe.”
“There, they see everything,” the former Leeds United manager continued. “It doesn’t matter if you’re at home against Martinique, they’re watching. These days, everything is analyzed, and you have to be at 100 to grow as a player and have the options to go abroad.”
Short-term, the goal is pulling off a few upsets, but long-term Christiansen would like to see Panama go into tournaments like this as favorites. That’s not going to happen unless Carrasquilla and players like him are in the top leagues in Europe.
An adductor injury to Olympique de Marseille fullback Michael Amir Murillo means the only player who fits into the category isn’t available for March matches.
There are a record number of Panamanians playing abroad, but preparing those players well enough that they can jump from current leagues represented like MLS, Israel and Ecuador to England, Spain and Germany would be the key for long-term success.
“We’ve grown more when it comes to exporting players, but now where we need to grow is that they adapt at their clubs, that they become important pieces for their teams,” Christiansen said. “That will elevate our level of competition in matches we play.”
So, too, will seeing the young generation develop. Winning the 2023 Maurice Revello Tournament put many U-22 players in the shop window for clubs in Europe and beyond, which leaders in Panama hope leads to an even stronger next generation.
That’s all for the future, though. Right now, the manager has a training session Saturday, another Sunday and then flies to Austin to continue preparations, while other players will join the squad directly in Dallas.
There, Christiansen will run the players through the plan, remind them about what makes the style of play work and maybe even toss in a motivational speech to get them fired up. Whatever it takes to take that next step.