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Bolivia faces Panama on Monday, July 1, in the final game of the Copa America group stage at the Inter e Co Stadium in Goiânia and needs to score six goals to advance into the knockouts of the Copa America.
A victory in Panama would also do them a world of good, as goal differential would end a potential tie with second place in Group C, should the U.S.A. prevail over Uruguay. Coming off two straight losses (and being one of four teams in the tournament yet to score a goal), La Verde needs a win ASAP.
On the other side stands Los Canaleros, a team that lost its opening match in the tournament 3-1 to Uruguay but dug deep to take a surprisingly convincing 2-1 victory over hosts U.S.A. last week.
The referee sent off players for both teams, Timothy Weah in the first half for the U.S.A. and Adalberto Carrasquilla in the 88th, before Folarin Balogun scored for the U.S.A. in the second game in a row in the 75th minute.
Four minutes later, the Americans' lead vanished when Cesar Blackman equalized for the Caymans, and the substitute José Fajardo won it for the Caribbean nation in the 83rd minute.
Head To Head And Previous Matches
Though Bolivia's chances of qualifying for the knockout stage are still alive, something extraordinary must happen on Monday.
They need a win, but Antonio Carlos Zago's team also needs Uruguay to beat the U.S. and a seven-goal swing in their favor.
That seems unlikely, considering the Bolivians lost 13 of their last 14 Copa America group games in 2015.
Over that protracted losing run, La Verde has had trouble scoring goals; they have yet to score in six Copa America group games during their current slump.
Should they be unable to score in this game, Bolivia will have finished the group stage without a goal for the first time since the Copa America in 2001.
Since a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in 2022 (a 5-0 victory), this team has not defeated a CONCACAF opponent; La Verde has dropped three straight games against that region.
The Panamanians overcame an early setback to win their first Copa America game this year in a passionate and tense match on Thursday.
They were awarded full marks statistically for their victory on matchday two, having amassed 74% of the possession—the most by any CONCACAF team in this competition since Opta started gathering such information in 2011.
That win snapped Thomas Christiansen's team's two-match losing streak in all competitions and gave them a good chance of qualifying for the knockout round.
Since a 3-2 victory over Nicaragua in June 2023, they had recovered to win after giving up the first goal.
If Panama is to advance, Uruguay may be able to assist them, though, as Los Canaleros have a -1 goal differential and the U.S. has +1, meaning they must beat the hosts on Monday.
La Marea Roja has won four straight games against them, including their lone encounter at this competition in 2016 (2-1), and Monday will be their seventh meeting overall.
Our Predictions
Panama to win @1.64 on Sky247.ng
They have scored a single time in five games across the two competitions. They have found Copa America a significant struggle: they won the competition in 1963 but have yet to win in the subsequent 18 tournaments, with just a single victory.
They have lost all their group games in the past three tournaments. If they fail to score, they are out – that would represent the third tournament in a row where they failed to register a goal in the group stage (the last time they went home from the game with no group-stage goals was back in 2001).
However, Panama needs to double its two-goal margin and pray that the U.S.A. does not steal the maximum points in Uruguay. Adalberto Carrasquilla was confirmed to have been suspended.
Considering the present condition of both teams and the recent record of the two teams, Panama should record her third successive maximum point without conceding a goal.
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