Christiansen and the keys to Panama to the final

Selector of Panama, Thomas Christiansen, He highlighted the belief with which his team played to win the semi-final this Wednesday Gold Cup for the United States, current champion of the tournament (1-1, 4-5 on penalties).

“In the end, you can practice (penalties) a lot, but I think today faith and desire worked Panama go to the final,” assured the Spanish-Danish coach at the press conference.

In front of more than 30,000 people in Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego With an overwhelming majority of American fans, Panama qualified for their third final golden cup and will go for his first title in this tournament after losing the ones in 2005 and 2013.

The match ended goalless after the legal 90 minutes, Ivan Anderson overtook the Panamanian team in the 99th minute, and the Colombian-American Jesús Ferreira equalized for the USA in the 105th minute, which led to a nerve-wracking semifinal where the Canal team, with two penalties saved by Orlando Mosquera, celebrated victory .

“The match against the USA could have gone one way or the other. We knew how they would play, how we had to play against them. In the first half, I think we were quite good in the last 20 minutes, we managed to dominate the game. We lost a bit in second half”, he thought Christiansen.

The coach was ironic with “what is football”, as he said that before this game they had rehearsals of maximum penalties and it turned out “fatal”.
There were more mistakes than goals, that’s what I’m telling you.

Christiansen he emphasized that this is Panama’s second semi-final in three weeks, after the one in which they played Concacaf Nations League.
“This doesn’t happen every year. Today was the moment to take advantage of it and enter that grand final, which is the dream of every Panamanian, coaching staff, player, those who help the team… Everyone deserves this victory today, but that’s the best way to enjoy it,” he explained.

“I’m happy with all the players (…). Now it’s time for a difficult recovery (for the final) because if I’m already dead, I don’t want to imagine the players…”, he joked.

Christiansen they also admitted they believed it was “almost impossible” to win NOW “at home and with the fans who tucked them in”.
“But the little hope that existed on our side had to be used. And with faith and enthusiasm, as I said before, we won the game there.” He said.

“It was good football from the side Panama, propose, often control the game, create chances. We made progress in defense as well. So, in general, if we make it all the way to the final, we can dream a little (…) We want to go all the way. We want to carry the title for Panama, he deserves it,” said the coach, who asked his team to continue “with their feet on the ground” for Sunday’s final in Los Angeles.