Qatar 2022: Why are Panama not in the FIFA World Cup?

Panama isn't regularly among the top best teams in CONCACAF. However, the Canaleros have proved they could qualify for the World Cup tournament, when they did it for the 2018 World Cup. However, the story wasn't good for them this time when they tried and fell short just a bit before they could head out to the 2022 World Cup. 

Thanks to Panama's golden generation, their national team could dreamed of a second consecutive World Cup participation. However, those players were old enough to leave behind the national team short after their participation. In fact, Felipe Baloy who scored the first goal for Panama in a World Cup, is among the second oldest player to have scored in a World Championship tournament ever. That pretty much summarizes the entire generation. 

So, in the middle of a transition between their golden generation and the new players coming in, Panama had to set their quest for the 2022 World Cup. Their quest started in 2021, because they weren't among the best top five CONCACAF national teams in the FIFA Ranking. 

Why did Panama not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?

The World Cup qualifiers for the non-top-five national teams in CONCACAF started in 2021, where Panama finished on top of their Group D, against Dominican Republic, Barbados, Dominica,  and Anguilla. After this first round, Panama had a two-legged matchup against Curazao. These first two rounds served as a qualifier to the third round, also known as Octogonal, because it was made up by the best eight teams in the region.

Once Panama started playing the Octogonal, the situation got real for the Canaleros. Their first matchup against Costa Rica ended as a 0-0 draw. Then, against Jamaica, the game ended as a 3-0 win. Their third game was a 0-0 against Mexico, at home.With 5 points,  Panama trusted their new generation, however it was only the start of the qualifiers. 

After two lost games, and three wins in the next five games, Panama still had chances to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. It was a matter of consistency in the second-legged matchups. However, the Canaleros lost 11 points in the next five games. So in the last match, they needed a massive blowout against Canada, to clinch the reclassification spot, as well as a combination of other results. However, Costa Rica ended up with the last spot for CONCACAF.