Some of the buzz around England following their win over Croatia has been tempered by their goalless draw against Ghana. But the result in Boston was far from cataclysmic.
Thomas Tuchel's side remain in pole position to seal top spot in Group L, with their final game against World Cup minnows Panama. But as Curaçao and Cape Verde have shown, you can't take any team for granted.
To get the lowdown on Panama, ESPN spoke to Panamanian journalist Luis Arauz.
What have you made of Panama's World Cup campaign so far?
LA: Well, the best word to describe it is bittersweet. Because before when we learnt of the groups back in December at the draw, we were like 'okay, this is a tough group. It's England, it's always difficult. Croatia, we know what they have done with the same core of players in the past and Ghana is a team that is always difficult.'
So back then if you ask us, 'would you be okay of losing both games 1-0?' I think we will agree because the reality is that they are better teams than us.
But then you watch the games and you see Panama was playing very well. They had possession, they had the chances and there were small mistakes that cost us the game. So it leaves you with this feeling of, yes, we performed better than we expected, but also we could have done more with what we showed.
Is this England game a free-hit for Panama as they are already eliminated?
LA: No, it actually matters because we are looking to improve what we did in Russia [in 2018]. If we get one point, if we get a draw, it will already be an improvement on our last participation. But also we want to score goals as we haven't scored yet in this World Cup.
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England won 6-1 the last time they faced Panama in the World Cup. Are they a better side now?
LA: We're a better team. We are a team that is not afraid to play against other teams. In that game against England, we were a very defensive team. Maybe it didn't look like that because we conceded six goals but we were a team that against those big opponents didn't perform well.
Right now we play the same way against Croatia, the same way against Suriname, the same way against Curaçao. We are not afraid of facing big teams right now. So I think that's a huge improvement from 2018 until now. And we have players in better leagues now than what we had back then.
Which player should England be wary of?
LA: Well, at first I would have told you Adalberto Carrasquilla but he's injured. He will certainly not play and if he does, it will be very limited minutes. So I'd say Cristian Martínez, he was the MVP of the game against Croatia. Imagine Panama lost the game, but a Panamanian player was still the most valuable player of that game. He is a player who can play in any position. He can play as a winger, he can play as a midfielder. He can do a lot of things. So he's our most dangerous player right now. Him and probably Amir Murillo, the Besiktas right back.
And which England player will Panama be most worried about?
LA: I'd say Harry Kane. He scored a hat-trick against us the last time we played and I think he's in my opinion, the best striker in the world right now and has been for the past five years. So I think he's the guy that Parama should be worried about most.
If you think about it, Kane won the Golden Boot in the 2018 World Cup with five goals. Three of those goals were against Panama. He scored the majority of the goals against Panama. So he's the guy that we should be most worried about.
Will there be a high turnout of Panama fans in New Jersey?
LA: Well, in Toronto, we played our first two games and it was full of Panamanians. I was there. There were approximately 25,000 Panamanians in Toronto and in New Jersey, I think it's going to be to be similar. New York is the state with the most Panamanians in the United States. So you can expect a lot of them going to watch the game.
There is actually a Panama Day in New York ... I think it's in October.
Is there something not a lot of people will know about this Panama team?
LA: An incredible piece of trivia is that Panama was the absolute only nation in all of CONCACAF, including the teams that successfully qualified for Qatar, that did not change its head coach after the 2022 World Cup cycle. While every other federation in the region changed coach at some point after 2022, Panama chose total stability and stuck with Thomas Christiansen.
Since then, that patience has paid off tremendously: we locked down our spot for 2026, reached both a Gold Cup and a Nations League final, and made a historic run to the quarterfinals of the Copa América, notably defeating the United States in all three tournaments.
On top of that, Panama is only Central American country to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.