Panama coach Thomas Christiansen did not want to call it an excuse, but after watching his side surrender the lead and settle for a 1-1 draw against India in Bengaluru, he had little hesitation in pointing towards the circumstances around the team’s preparation.
Speaking at the post-match press conference at Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Christiansen said Panama had not had enough time to train together because of travel and logistics, while the team’s journey to the stadium on matchday took around two hours in Bengaluru traffic. He also took responsibility for the result, with five players making their first starts for the senior national team as Panama begin a generational transition.
“A generational change is not easy. Five players got their first start today. The result is my fault. We didn’t have time to work, to train, because of the travel and logistics. But I’m happy to see them start with five debutants. We have to learn from this experience.”
“I don’t want this to sound like an excuse, but it is not easy to be in a bus for two hours in traffic to get to the stadium. The logistics and the travel here were also complicated. We have to be smarter when we sign these agreements again. I don’t want this to sound like an excuse, but we have to be careful with how we handle things inside and outside the pitch because our players deserve better.”
The five debutants were Marcos De Leon, Jair Modelo, Joseph Jones, Daivis Murillo and Mijahir Jimenez. Panama had also brought substantial World Cup experience to Bengaluru, with 14 players from their 2026 World Cup squad included in the group for the India friendly, although the side Christiansen fielded was clearly one being used to begin the next phase.
Panama were based at the Renaissance Bengaluru Race Course Hotel, while their training sessions were held at the Centre for Sports Excellence Phase 3 in Bettahalasuru, up in North Bengaluru. Their final pre-match session was on September 24, so the squad had already made that trip across the city and back before matchday even arrived.
Getting to Kanteerava on September 25 was a much shorter journey on paper. The hotel is only around 3-4 km from the stadium, but Bengaluru has a way of making a few kilometres feel like a much bigger undertaking. Christiansen said his players spent around two hours on the bus getting to the stadium, turning what should have been a straightforward matchday transfer into a sizeable chunk of their afternoon.
For a team that had limited time together, five players making their first starts and a new-look side still finding its rhythm, those hours mattered to Christiansen. He was careful not to pin the 1-1 draw entirely on the travel, but his point was that the logistics had taken up time and energy that Panama would have preferred to spend preparing for India.
HOW INDIA PUSHED PANAMA BACK
The logistics were only part of Christiansen’s explanation, though, and the match itself gave him plenty to think about. India were not simply beneficiaries of a Panama side that arrived underprepared. There were stretches when the Blue Tigers controlled the game, pressed the visitors into mistakes and, particularly before half-time, looked the more convincing side.
Ryan Williams eventually put India ahead in the 41st minute after Akash Mishra found him with a diagonal ball, capping a first half in which India had gradually grown into the contest. Panama had arrived as the 44th-ranked team in the world and with a squad carrying recent World Cup experience, but India spent long periods making that difference in pedigree look far less significant.
“If you give them space and time, they can do whatever they want because they have some very good-quality players. They made it difficult for us, especially in our defensive line, with the second striker they had up front. It was difficult to manage that.”
“We were a little bit disorganised. That also gave India the possibility, when they recovered the ball, to go and attack because we were so spread out and our lines were too far apart. That was one of the main reasons why we didn’t come really well into the game.”
That was perhaps the most revealing part of Christiansen’s assessment. India did not spend the night simply waiting for Panama to make a mistake. They actively forced the visitors into uncomfortable positions, with Tekcham Singh busy on the right, Anwar Ali and Bijoy Varghese dealing well with Panama’s forward movement and Williams giving the defence something to worry about whenever India won the ball.
Even after Panama responded in the second half, India continued to have their moments. Omar Javier Valencia’s long-range equaliser in the 68th minute changed the momentum and gave the visitors more control, but India still pushed forward and came close through Edmund Lalrindika after a superb Ashique Kuruniyan cross.
The final 1-1 scoreline therefore carried a little more weight than a routine friendly draw. Panama had 12 players in their matchday group who had featured at the 2026 World Cup, while five others were making their senior international starts, yet India were able to dominate periods of the match and force Christiansen’s side to acknowledge where they had gone wrong.
For Christiansen, that makes the Bengaluru experience something Panama need to learn from rather than simply move past. He accepted that the preparation had been complicated, but his comments also recognised that India had the quality and organisation to punish Panama when the visitors lost their shape.
Panama will now continue their Asian tour, facing New Zealand in Yokohama on October 1, before taking on Japan or Ecuador in Tokyo on October 5.
India, meanwhile, move on to the two biggest tests of this FIFA window. Khalid Jamil’s side will face Brazil on October 3 before meeting Uruguay on October 6, with both matches scheduled in Kolkata.
– Ends
