Panama bows out to England, but Córdoba sees a foundation for growth

England ended Panama’s World Cup run with a 2-0 win at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane scored to close Group L. José Córdoba left the field lamenting the elimination, but the defender said Panama had shown enough against a top-tier opponent to believe this generation can keep growing.

Panama arrived at the match already out after back-to-back 1-0 losses to Ghana and Croatia. The team wanted its first goal of the tournament and a performance that would reflect the fight it had shown across a difficult group in the FIFA World Cup 2026, the first edition of the tournament to feature 48 teams and three host countries.

Before meeting England, Panama was averaging 48.5 recoveries per match, winning 49.1% of its individual duels and 52% of its aerial contests, and it had conceded only two goals in those opening matches. It was only the second World Cup meeting between the countries, after England’s 6-1 victory in Russia 2018, when Felipe Baloy scored Panama’s first goal at a World Cup. That remains Panama’s lone World Cup goal, and the 2026 campaign again ended without a point, leaving the national team with five defeats from five matches in its two World Cup appearances.

Thomas Christiansen said Panamanians should be proud of how the team competed against elite opposition.