By Ridge Mahoney, Soccer America Senior Editor, in Panama City
The rains and lightning came late in the afternoon, as they often do in this narrow nation that is famous for a canal connecting two vast bodies of water.
A downpour washed out training sessions for both the United States and Panama yesterday and more rain is possible today when they meet in the third match-day of the CONCACAF semifinal round of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.
(TV: Wednesday, Sept. 8 live on Fox Sports World, 9 pm ET/6 pm PT; delay on Telemundo, 11:30 pm ET/11:30 pm PT).
''I don't know what their field's like, I don't know what the crowd will be like, I have no idea,'' said U.S. forward Landon Donovan, who played in a 4-3 win over the Panamanian under-23 team in Olympic qualifying last February. ''But our objective is to get three points and put ourselves in a position hopefully to finish it out or get close to qualifying by the fourth or fifth game.''
The U.S. leads Group A with a win and a tie and four points, one point ahead of the Panamanians, whose 2-1 victory over Jamaica in Kingston last Saturday threw another twist into an already convoluted group.
Jamaica is at the bottom of the group with one point from two home games and El Salvador is tied with Panama for second place heading into tonight's meeting in San Salvador.
''They outplayed El Salvador and lost and then got outplayed by Jamaica and won,'' said U.S. assistant coach Curt Onalfo, who has scouted five of Panama's games, including its loss to El Salvador in the semifinal opener Aug. 18 as well as the stunning win over Jamaica in stoppage time.
''They send the outside backs forward, get down the wings and look to whip balls into the box. When they go on the road they play a little bit more direct. They just knock it and flick it and run off it.''
Only about 2,000 fans watched Panama's home loss to El Salvador Aug. 18. Many more are expected tonight at the Rommel Fernandez stadium, which holds approximately 20,000.
Forwards Julio Cesar Dely Valdes and Robert Brown will test the U.S. back line, which is expected to include Eddie Pope, who sat out the 2-0 win over El Salvador Saturday with a hip strain. Dely Valdes' brother, Jorge, who once played in MLS for the Colorado Rapids, is also in the squad.
''They have a pretty athletic team and they play pretty well as a team,'' said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. ''They have a forward who's scored big goals for them in [Julio Cesar] Dely Valdes. The other forward [Brown] had a good game against Jamaica and scored the first goal. They've had a good run in qualifying so far.''
Goalkeeper Tim Howard, who started his first qualifier Saturday, has returned to Manchester United, which leaves the starting slot open for Kasey Keller. Other likely changes are Greg Vanney taking the left-back spot from Bobby Convey, who set up the first goal against El Salvador for Brian Ching but also picked up a yellow card and Frankie Hejduk at right back in place of Steve Cherundolo.
Pope and Carlos Bocanegra are the likely starters in central defense. Clint Mathis has been working with Brian Ching during training sessions leading up to the game and that pair may start up front, supported by a midfield of DaMarcus Beasley, Claudio Reyna, Kerry Zavagnin, and Donovan. Eddie Lewis has looked sharp in training as well.
In addition to Convey, five other U.S. players have received a yellow card either in the preliminary phases against Grenada or in the semifinal round: Pope, Lewis, Reyna, Cory Gibbs and Conor Casey. Panama enters the game without three suspended players.
All six U.S. players with yellows are in the squad and available for duty tonight. After playing Panama, the U.S. has about a month off before facing El Salvador away and Panama at home in October.