El Salvador and Panama meet in pivotal encounter | OneFootball

MIAMI - The Final Round of the Concacaf Qualifiers to the 2026 FIFA World Cup continues with El Salvador hosting Panama in Group A on Friday at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, El Salvador.

After losing 2-1 to Suriname, La Selecta is looking to return to winning ways against a team with which it has enjoyed recent success. El Salvador is 2-1-1 in its last four games against Panama.

Panama is unbeaten in its last seven World Cup Qualifying matches (5-2-0), a run that includes five consecutive victories between March 2022 and June 2025. During that stretch, Thomas Christiansen’s side has scored 12 goals and conceded only two.

With a goal and two assists, Éric Davis was directly involved in three of Panama’s last four goals in qualifying. He has also racked up for assists in his last seven appearances across all official competitions, including the Concacaf Gold Cup and the CONMEBOL Copa América.

Historical Series

El Salvador and Panama will meet for the 13th time in the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup.

Overall, this will be the 50th encounter between the two in all competitions, with Panama leading the series with 19 wins, 17 losses, and 13 draws.

In the last 12 matches across all competitions between these two teams, Panama has recorded 7 wins and just one defeat, along with 4 draws. El Salvador’s last victory was a 1-0 win during the Qatar 2022 qualifiers on October 7, 2021, at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador (SLV), with a goal by Enrico Hernández.

In World Cup Qualifying history, this will be the 13th meeting. El Salvador leads the series with 7 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws. In the last 3 WCQ matches, La Selecta has earned 2 wins and 1 loss.

El Salvador and Panama faced off twice in the Final Round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for Qatar 2022, during the Octagonal. Each side won once. The first match was on October 7, 2021, on Matchday 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador (SLV), a 1-0 win for El Salvador thanks to a goal from Enrico Hernández. The second match took place on Matchday 8 at Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama City (PAN) on November 16, 2021. Los Canaleros came from behind to win 2-1 with goals from Freddy Góndola and Cecilio Waterman, after Jairo Henríquez had scored for La Selecta.

Top scorers for El Salvador vs. Panama in qualifiers: Baltazar Zapata (4), Jorge “Mágico” González (4)

Top scorers for Panama vs. El Salvador in qualifiers: Jorge Dely Valdés (2), José Luis Garcés (2)

Historical Series: 49 matches

17 wins El Salvador, 64 goals

13 draws

19 wins Panama, 67 goals