It went down to the wire, but Jaime Penedo’s World Cup dream ended on Tuesday evening as Panama fell 3-2 to the United States.
Panama needed only a Mexico defeat to Costa Rica and a win over the U.S. to qualify and appeared to be on their way to the two-leg playoff with New Zealand when Luis Tejada broke a 1-1 deadlock with a goal in 84th minute. However, Panama’s hopes were dashed in stoppage time when the U.S. scored twice off goals from Graham Zusi and Aron Johansson to end Los Canaleros’ hopes of reaching Brazil.
With the defeat, Panama finishes in fifth in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying while Mexico earns a berth in the two-leg playoff against New Zealand in November.
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