Over the next four months, the U.S. Men’s National Team will play its last remaining competitive matches before hosting the 2026 World Cup. The competition begins March 20-23 with the 2025 Concacaf Nations League Finals in Los Angeles, where the Americans will be attempting to win the nascent tournament for the fourth consecutive time while head coach Mauricio Pochettino seeks his first international trophy.
The USA’s title defense begins with a March 20 semifinal against Panama at SoFi Stadium (7 p.m. ET; Paramount+ and Univision). While a potential Nations League decider against either Mexico or Canada looms three days later, Los Canaleros shouldn’t be overlooked. Panama has given the USMNT some trouble in recent years, and it’s continued to contend under coach Thomas Christiansen.
Here are five key things to know about Thursday’s semifinal opponent.
SOCCER IN PANAMA
Panama embraced the world’s game a bit later than most of its Central American neighbors, but the nation of around 4.5 million people has made undeniably impressive progress over the past two decades.
Los Canaleros cracked the top 100 in FIFA’s ranking for the first time in early 2005 and then that summer, they marched all the way to the Concacaf Gold Cup Final before losing to the USA on penalties. Panama has been a bona fide regional presence ever since, reaching four more Gold Cup semis (and two more finals) and qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. After a temporary dip following that World Cup, Panama has risen steadily and is now ranked 36th by FIFA (fourth in Concacaf). The country now regularly exports players to clubs throughout the western hemisphere and beyond.
Panama lost the 2013 Gold Cup Final to the USA and then the 2023 Gold Cup Final to Mexico at SoFi, 1-0, on an 88th-minute goal. In two previous trips to the Nations League final four, Los Canaleros finished fourth. They’ve been knocking on the door and now will be seeking their first significant international trophy (Panama also won the defunct UNCAF Nations Cup, a Central American championship, in 2009).
Panama’s most capped player is retired midfielder Gabriel Gómez (148), but San Diego FC veteran Aníbal Godoy (143) is closing in and could break the record this summer. The late and legendary Luis Tejada remains the country’s leading all-time marksman with 43 goals. José Fajardo, who played briefly with D.C. United in 2023, is the leading active scorer with 15.
USMNT HISTORY VS. PANAMA
The USA’s dominant 18W-3L-7D margin in the all-time series against Panama belies the number of close calls and setbacks in recent years. The Americans triumphed in a pair of Gold Cup finals between the sides (2005 and 2013) and won 12 of the first 15 meetings. But since a 1-1 draw during the group stage of the 2015 Gold Cup, the Americans’ have won just six of 13 (6W-2L-5D).
Panama outlasted the Americans on penalties in the bronze medal match later in that 2015 Gold Cup and then won from the spot again in the 2023 Gold Cup semis. The rivals split their 2022 World Cup qualifiers, but Panama delivered a big blow to the USMNT with a 2-1 group-stage win at the 2024 Copa América. That defeat helped knock the host Americans from the prestigious tournament, and the elimination led to the departure of then-coach Gregg Berhalter. His replacement, Pochettino, then won his USMNT debut, a 2-0 friendly decision over Panama last Oct. 12 in Austin, Texas. Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi bagged the goals. That was the most recent meeting between the sides.
In official competition over the past decade, the USA is 3W-2L-5D against the improving Panamanians.
Christian Pulisic leads active USMNT players with four career goals against Panama. He struck in an October 6, 2017 World Cup qualifier in Orlando, Fla. (a 4-0 win) and then notched a hat trick in a 5-1 qualifying win on March 27, 2022, also in Orlando. Among other members of the 2025 Nations League squad, Musah and Gio Reyna also have found the net (one apiece) against Los Canaleros.
PANAMA’S RECENT FORM
Panama had a busy 2024. Its run to the Copa América quarters followed its entry into Concacaf’s 2026 World Cup qualifying competition, and it began and ended the year with Nations League knockout matches. Overall, Los Canaleros went 5W-7L-1D in 2024. It then began 2025 with an unofficial hybrid game against Peruvian club Universitario, followed by a 6-1 friendly loss at Chile on Feb. 8.
Its most impressive recent result was the 1-0 win over Costa Rica in the Nations League quarterfinals on Nov. 14, 2024. The USMNT has never beaten Los Ticos on home turf, but Panama’s triumph that night at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose—secured with a second-half penalty by José Fajardo—wound up providing the one-goal margin it needed to eventually win the two-leg series (it also snapped a three-game losing streak).
The 3-2 aggregate victory was sealed with 2-2 home draw four days later, sending Panama to both this week’s Nations League Finals and the group stage of the upcoming Gold Cup. On Feb. 8 in Santiago, Panama then fell by five goals to Chile. That 6-1 setback in Santiago was contested outside a FIFA international window, and Panama fielded a starting XI that included only two men who made the current Nations League roster.
THE HEAD COACH
Volatility has been a recent trend in Concacaf, but Panama has enjoyed relative stability with Danish manager Thomas Christiansen, who’s been on the job since July 2020. He’s the only head coach remaining from Concacaf’s eight-team World Cup qualifying competition contested in 2021-22. And the other three 2025 Nations League semifinalists—USA, Canada and Mexico—have had a combined 12 different men manage matches since Christiansen was hired.
Christiansen, 52, has led Panama to a 32W-21L-14D overall record. Highlights include a silver medal at the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup and a spot in the 2024 Copa América quarterfinals.
His 15-year playing career included stops at clubs in Spain, Greece, Denmark and Germany, where he was a teammate of National Soccer Hall of Fame defender Steve Cherundolo at Hannover 96. Although raised in Denmark, the striker was eligible to play for Spain through his mother and earned two caps with La Roja in 1993, scoring once.
Christiansen then went into coaching and was the head coach at AEK Larnaca and APOEL in Cyprus, Leeds United and Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise before joining up with Panama. He won a Cypriot First Division championship with APOEL in 2017.
PANAMA’S SQUAD
The growth of Panamanian soccer is evident on its 23-man Nations League roster, which is without a single player from the domestic league. There are three apiece from MLS and Liga MX, another at Uruguayan power Nacional and six based at European clubs (including one in Israel, a UEFA member).
Coach Thomas Christiansen’s team includes six men with more than 50 caps, 15 who’ve hit double digits and just one without a senior international appearance. Forward José Fajardo, who scored the 83rd-minute winner in Panama’s defeat of the USA at last year’s Copa América, is the squad's leading marksman with 15 goals.
Christiansen will have to navigate two key absences. Former New York Red Bulls and current Olympique Marseille defender Michael Murillo will miss this month’s matches with a hamstring issue, while Mazatlán winger Édgar Yoel Bárcenas is out with a long-term knee injury.
In addition to current MLS players Aníbal Godoy, Carlos Harvey and Omar Valencia, fans in the U.S. may be familiar with Fajardo (formerly of D.C. United); former New York Red Bulls defender Fidel Escobar; former Columbus Crew, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, FC Cincinnati, Chicago Fire and Las Vegas Lights midfielder Cristian Martínez; and former Houston Dynamo midfielder (and 2023 U.S. Open Cup champion) Adalberto Carrasquilla.
Of note, 18-year-old Levante prospect Martín Krug is a Chicago native eligible to play for Panama through his mother.
DETAILED PANAMA ROSTER BY POSITION (Club/Country; Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Luis Mejía (Nacional/URU; 53/0), Orlando Mosquera (Al Fahya/KSA; 32/0), César Samudio (Marathón/HON; 4/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Iván Anderson (Marathón/HON; 12/1), César Blackman (Slovan Bratislava/SVK; 28/2), José Córdoba (Norwich City/ENG; 21/0), Fidel Escobar (Saprissa/CRC; 84/3), Edgardo Fariña (Khimki/RUS; 10/0), Carlos Harvey (Minnesota United/USA; 11/1), Martín Krug (Atlético Levante/ESP; 1/0), Jorge Gutiérrez (Deportivo La Guaira/VEN; 3/0), Omar Valencia (New York Red Bulls/USA; 3/0)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Adalberto Carrasquilla (UNAM Pumas/MEX; 62/2), Edward Cedeño (Tarazona/ESP; 0/0), Aníbal Godoy (San Diego FC/USA; 143/4), Cristian Martínez (Ironi Kiryat Shmona/ISR; 49/1), Janpol Morales (Macará/ECU; 1/0), José Luis Rodríguez (Juárez/MEX; 53/7)
FORWARDS (5): Ismael Díaz (Universidad Católica/ECU; 42/9), José Fajardo (Universidad Católica/ECU; 55/15), Gustavo Herrera (Puebla/MEX; 1/0), Tomás Rodríguez (Monagas/VEN; 4/0), Cecilio Waterman (Coquimbo Unido/CHI; 41/11)