Thomas Christiansen: ‘We gave everything to the last drop of blood’

Thomas Christiansen, selector of Panama, This Sunday, he stated that he was very proud of the effort and dedication of his players in the final golden cup who lost 1-0 to Mexico.

“We gave everything in today’s game. Everything we had, until the last drop of blood. The team died standing,” said the Spanish-Danish coach at a press conference.

“They scored a goal for us a couple of minutes before 90. I can’t blame my players for anything. They had a fantastic tournament and, as I told them, you have to keep the medal. There are a lot of people who took Nije, but I told them to be proud of everything what they achieved, to the compliments they gave to football,” he added.

Goal dand Santiago Gimenez andIn the 88th minute, he gave it to him Gold Cup to Mexico, who won the selection Panama that he lost the three finals of this tournament that he played (2005, 2013 and 2023).

Mexico that’s how he got his ninth golden cup since the format of this tournament has been changed from concacaf (the most trophy-winning national team) and regained the throne it lost in 2021, when it fell in the final to the United States.

Christiansen he pointed out that Mexico is a “very good” rival, which “has been subjected to many times Panama”, and it’s a pity that the Canalero team didn’t realize their chances, maybe because of exhaustion in the semi-final in which they had to go to penalties to lose NOW.

“We played against several times Mexico. We know how they play, we know their strengths, individual quality, speed… It was a game together, with the lines quite close, the swings had to be good to close the space inside,” he claimed.

“The game was like that. The times when we recovered the transitions, I think we arrived with a lot of danger. We had our chances, but in the end we faced Mexico who went from being smaller to being bigger and so I also congratulate them for golden cup“, he added.

Despite the sadness of losing another final, the coach highlighted the “maturity”, “experience” and growth that Panama has achieved.

Christiansen He also congratulated the Panamanian Adalberto Carrasquillawho was declared the best player of this Golden cup.

“I said in the dressing room that, of course, he deserves it because he is a very good player. But it is also the team that did him good. He has a lot of merit, but the team also gave their grain of sand and I congratulated them for that,” he explained. is.

“We lost and we have to hold our heads high, which (the players) can be very proud of,” he concluded.