According to a 2015 census the average age of the population in Panama is 28.4 years. The Panamanian team that emerged from the final phase of the qualifying rounds, by football standards, rounded out as a positively ancient 29.4.

As far as football is concerned, Panama is clearly no country for young men. It is fitting though that some of the very last players of a golden generation that
finished Gold Cup runners-up in 2013 have managed to clinch one last, unlikely hurrah in Russia.

This is the first time that the country, home to just four million people, have qualified for the grandest stage. And what a journey the last 40 years have been.

Panama’s debut World Cup qualifier came in 1976 and even then, football in the country was so disjointed that professionalism arrived 12 years later.

There was such disarray in the early days that proper pitches, boots and even footballs were in extremely short supply.

In the late 1990s everything finally came together – through the help of an Englishman. Gary Stempel, who was born in Panama City, returned to the land of his birth and helped transform the baseball-mad country into a proper football outpost.

He took charge of the country’s youth teams – essentially impoverished kids found on the street – and built from the ground up, leading a side to the Under-20 World Cup in 2003.

More development has followed but the youngsters of the past are now veterans of the present without a wealth of talent to replace them.

World Cup fever, though, is certainly one way to kick-start the production line after Panama made it through a CONCACAF qualifying group that stretched the limits of belief.

Big-hitting USA somehow lost to dead-last Trinidad & Tobago in the final round of games. Panama consequently sneaked into the third automatic qualifying spot thanks to long-time captain and proverbial poet Roman Torres, who scored the winner against Costa Rica in the 88th minute.

Belgium, England and Tunisia may view Panama as Group G’s cannon fodder this summer. But if anything can return life to old legs, it is this one last dance.

KEY PLAYER

Gabriel Torres

While Panama keep it tight at the back, it will be up to Torres to chase after every loose ball and lost cause. The 29-year-old had a very productive 2017, scoring five goals including the equaliser in that historic qualification match against Costa Rica.

COACH

Hernan Dario Gomez

Luckily Panama have a coach who has been there and done it. Gomez is the only person, alongside the late Henri Michel, to have guided at least three different teams to the World Cup – Colombia in 1998 and Uruguay in 2002 before his finest feat with the Central American minnows.

CAPTAIN

Roman Torres

A sprightly 32 compared to the rest of his battle-hardened team-mates, the skipper quite literally rose to the occasion when he smashed Panama into the World Cup. La Mareja Roja’s (The Red Tide) only hope is to constrict their opponents – the leadership of their Seattle Sounders man will be crucial.

YOUNG STAR

Michael Murillo

Not much to choose from here but Murillo deserves some attention. A tall and hardy right-back, the 22-year-old has impressed for New York Red Bulls in the MLS and set up two goals in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final victory over Club Tijuana back in March.

KEY STATS AND FACTS

– This is Panama’s first-ever World Cup,

– Panama have six active players who have reached 100 caps.

– The nation’s lowest-ever FIFA ranking is 150th, in August 1995.

FIFA Rating

69 DEF 69 MID 68 ATT

World Cups competed at

1 (2018)

World Cup record

N/A

Best finish

N/A

Qualification record

P16, W6, D5, L5

World ranking

55

SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Jose Calderon (Chorrillo), Jaime Penedo (Dinamo Bucharest), Alex Rodriguez (San Francisco).

Defenders: Felipe Baloy (Municipal CSD), Harold Cummings (San Jose Earthquakes), Erick Davis (Dunajska Streda), Fidel Escobar (San Miguelito), Michael Murillo (New York Red Bulls), Adolfo Machado (Houston Dynamo), Luis Ovalle (Olimpia), Roman Torres (Seattle Sounders).

Midfielders: Jose Luis Rodriguez (Gent), Yoel Barcenas (Cafetaleros de Tapachula), Armando Cooper (Universidad de Chile), Anibal Godoy (San Jose Earthquakes), Gabriel Gomez (Bucaramanga), Valentin Pimentel (Plaza Amador), Alberto Quintero (Universitario).

Forwards: Abdiel Arroyo (Alajuelense), Ismael Diaz (Deportivo La Coruna), Blas Perez (Municipal), Luis Tejada (Sports Boys), Gabriel Torres (CD Huachipato).

VERDICT

The odds are stacked against Panama but if their veterans keep it compact and scrappy, there will always be a chance of the knockouts.