Day: March 21, 2018

China’s quest to get among the superpowers of Asian football came up short in the last FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign as they finished 5th to Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and Syria. They did, however, manage to show some good form in the latter stages of that qualifying campaign with wins over Uzbekistan and South Korea, but they still have a long way to go in terms of getting among the big boys of Asian and world football.

They are without a win since their last world cup qualifier against Qatar,  in that time they have drawn against North Korea and South Korea, lost to Colombia, Serbia and Japan, they would be looking to frustrate Ryan Giggs’ Wales as he makes his managerial debut here.

Wales were the surprise package of Euro 2016 as they reached the semifinal when other bigger nations like England failed to even get beyond the group stage. However, they could not follow that achievement with  a world cup qualification and this led to Chris Coleman resigning to take charge of  Sunderland. They lost just one game in the world cup qualifying series but drew five of their opening six games. They lost their first post-world cup qualifying friendly to France, before drawing with Panama ahead of this game.

Panama would be competing in their first ever FIFA World Cup in Russia later this year, this feat was achieved thanks to an 88th-minute winner by Seattle Saunders’ Román Torres in their game against Costa Rica.

Despite being one of the smallest nations in the world in terms of footballing pedigree, Panama showed some class during the last World Cup qualifiers as they won against Costa Rica and secured impressive draws against Honduras and USA, they would now look to cause some upset when the World Cup finally gets underway in Russia.

Denmark needed to go through the playoffs to secure a place in Russia 2018, but the Scandinavian nations did not struggle to win their playoff game against the Republic of Ireland as they won the return leg 5-1.

With the likes of Sisto Pistone, Yusouf Poulsen, and Christian Eriksen in their ranks, Denmark would be considered favourites in this game, but Panama should not be underrated as they showed in their 1-1 draw against Wales in the last round of friendly games.

Although they boast some of the best-attacking talents in Europe, Denmark are not so remarkable defensively as they have conceded at least a goal in each of their last three games.