Already eliminated, Panama wants to overcome its “disappointment” against the Blue on Wednesday (12:00 p.m.) in Sydney to “show that it deserves its place” at the Women’s World Cup, coach Ignacio Quintana said on Tuesday. “We are a little disappointed because we had high hopes and a great desire to do much better,” said the technician at a press conference on the eve of the meeting. “We can nevertheless overcome the bad times, we have already done so in the past”.
For its first World Cup, Panama was overtaken by Brazil (4-0) before resisting Jamaica for a long time despite another defeat (1-0). “We will play in front of 40,000 spectators, we will perhaps face the future world champions. The motivation will come by itself. We are sad, yes” but we want to “show that Panama deserves its place”, added Quintana.
The coach also hopes to lay the groundwork for the future of this small selection from Latin America. “We are here to start something. We are going to think about the future, we have very young players who will experience other international events. We expect our players to be present at other World Cups. The second time, it will no longer be a surprise for them,” he concluded.
