Panama — 2026 World Cup Squad

Thomas Christiansen's side land in Group L as the outsiders, yet this is a generation that has learned to make life thoroughly miserable for supposed superiors. The Canaleros are built spine-first: José Córdoba's Championship education at Norwich gives them a centre-back comfortable defending a deep block, while Amir Murillo overlaps relentlessly from full-back, a role he has grown into at Beşiktaş.

The midfield is where Panama win the right to compete. Aníbal Godoy, now plying his trade at San Diego, screens with the unfussy positional sense of a veteran, and alongside him Adalberto Carrasquilla of Pumas and Minnesota's Carlos Harvey supply legs and bite to swarm opponents into mistakes. It is combative, disruptive football rather than possession for its own sake.

Up top, León's Ismael Díaz is the man tasked with converting those scraps; sharp on the turn, he thrives on transition rather than sustained siege. The genuine storyline is continuity under Christiansen, the manager who took them to a maiden World Cup and has steadily rebuilt belief. Reach the knockouts and nobody in Group L will fancy drawing them.