After Today's Match - Panama Should Be Ranked 28th In The World (Historical High)
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - No real surprise there. If Panama had beaten Portugal then that would have been an international headline. The score was 2-0 and in fact Panama's defense played very well against Portugal's onslaught of an offense. This was an excellent game for Panama, a chance to test themselves against one of the most potent offenses in the world. It was a sort of "big stage" game for them. You could tell by their play and body language for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game, Panama's players were somewhat star struck. Yes, you just did execute a perfect sweep against Cristiano Ronaldo -- the highest paid footballer in the world. Now, get back up and keep running...
Within the CONCACAF, Panama currently has a FIFA rank of 54 which makes them third in the conference behind Mexico (18) and the USA (36). Panama played this friendly match today against a real quality opponent. Portugal is ranked #5 in the world, and the difference between the teams was evident on the field. Meanwhile Panama's next CONCACAF rival Canada (ranked 79) is playing a friendly match this evening against Trinidad & Tobago (ranked 80). So hopefully this match today will help Panama to tighten up their game, and prepare to face Canada in Toronto on 7 September, and then again in Panama City on 11 September. Panama really couldn't lost today. They gained valuable training and experience, just by stepping on to that field. Well done, to the people who put it together. This tells me the Panama management isn't just thinking about qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, but they also want to survive the groups stage. Hey, who knows. Thirty two teams will qualify, and sixteen will advance.
Doing The Math: I decided to check to see how many points Panama picked up today, in this friendly match against Portugal. Check this out. At the start of the match Panama had 560 points and was ranked 54th in the world, making them second in the CONCACAF. But they will be getting 183 points for today's game. They lost, so no points there. It was friendly, so the multiplier is 1. Because Portugal is ranked so high, the strength of the opposing team (Portugal) is 195. Then the multiplier for the strength of the Confederation is the average of 1 for UEFA/CONMEBOL and .88 for CONCACAF, or therefore a .94 multiplier. So 1 x 195 x .94 = 183.3 points. Add that to Panama's current 560 and that gives them a new total of 743. So now, as a result of this game, Panama should be ranked at about 28th in the world, moving up an amazing 26 spots. Of course there will be other variables with other teams around the world, who are also playing matches. At 28th, this would make them second in the CONCACAF behind Mexico. The highest Panama has ever been ranked is 46, in June 2012. So unless I'm missing something, this match against Portugal should pole vault the team into the best ranking they have ever had...
Copyright 2012 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
