PANAMA CITY, Panama — David Samudio Garay is the longtime play-by-play man for Panama’s RPC television, and he can still remember all the horrific details of that night four years ago when the U.S. came to this city and ended Panama’s World Cup dream with the biggest gut-punch imaginable.
Panama was leading the U.S. 2-1 the 92nd minute of the final game in the 2013 CONCACAF Hexagonal. The U.S. had already qualified for World Cup 2014 in its previous game, so it technically had nothing to play for but pride. Panama, meanwhile, was within a hairsbreadth of qualifying for an intercontinental playoff with New Zealand to make its first World Cup—and even more shocking, doing so at the expense of Mexico, which was seconds from being eliminated entirely from the World Cup. The fans in the stands at Estadio Rommel Fernández were boisterous with expectation. A giant party was about to happen.
Panama was leading the U.S. 2-1 the 92nd minute of the final game in the 2013 CONCACAF Hexagonal. The U.S. had already qualified for World Cup 2014 in its previous game, so it technically had nothing to play for but pride. Panama, meanwhile, was within a hairsbreadth of qualifying for an intercontinental playoff with New Zealand to make its first World Cup—and even more shocking, doing so at the expense of Mexico, which was seconds from being eliminated entirely from the World Cup. The fans in the stands at Estadio Rommel Fernández were boisterous with expectation. A giant party was about to happen.
And then … disaster for Panama.
“Everybody remembers October 15, 2013,” said Garay ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against the U.S. (10 p.m. ET, BeIN Sports). “Everyone knows where they were and what their feelings were.”
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