Panama, participating in only their second Copa America, advanced to the knockout stage for the first time with a 3-1 victory over Bolivia.
Jose Fajardo opened the scoring for Panama, and after Bruno Miranda equalized for Bolivia, substitutes Eduardo Guerrero and Cesar Yanis netted crucial goals to secure the win.
(Photo: Panama at Copa America/Twitter)
“Football is daily suffering, but today there was a lot at stake,” said Panama coach Thomas Christiansen. “We knew that not even a win guaranteed that we would make it to the quarter-finals after the first goal.”
Christiansen acknowledged the challenges during the match, saying, “Our performance dropped at times, they [Bolivia] began to control the game and they scored.
We started to get a bit more anxious. But we reacted quickly. Our players were able to overcome those odds and the substitutions made a huge difference.”
