Mexico and Panama will decide the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup champion on Sunday with the latter chasing its first-ever triumph in the competition.
Bookmaker William Hill offers odds at 5.50 for Panama to win the game in 90 minutes. The odds are at 1.55 for a Mexico victory at full-time and at 3.60 for a draw in the contest.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 15th, 5:00 P.M. (EST)
Panama will be contesting its third Gold Cup final, while it’s much more familiar territory for the Mexicans. El Tri holds the competition record with eight previous triumphs and another title win is expected after Panama shocked the United States in the semi-final to take out Mexico’s biggest competitor.
Mexico lost its final group game to Qatar, but the team has pretty much breezed through the competition and Jaime Lozano’s men enter the final after conceding just twice at the tournament so far and scoring 12 goals across five games. It’s going to hurt a lot if they aren’t able to finish the job on Sunday.
A losing effort would also result in Mexico making negative history as the team has yet to lose back-to-back Gold Cup finals. Two years ago, the U.S. took Mexico 1-0 down in extra time.
Panama has an unbeaten record ahead of the big match, registering three wins and two draws. Having so far shut out only one opponent, Los Canaleros clearly have had some issues at the back, but similarly to Mexico, they have been very prolific throughout the tournament and should be in high spirits.
The Panamanians could also draw some extra confidence from their previous head-to-head clashes with Mexico. The Mexicans do boast a 13-game unbeaten streak in the match-up, but Panama has won two of the teams’ last three meetings at the Gold Cup.
It’s been only a few weeks since the most recent battle between the two. On June 18, a Jesús Gallardo goal was enough for Mexico to beat Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League third-place playoff. It was the fourth time in five head-to-head games Panama was kept off the scoreboard.
Can head coach Thomas Christiansen now figure out a way to break down the Mexico defense? His team has scored 11 goals in five outings at this year’s Gold Cup, netting at least twice in four matches. It’s an impressive scoring record that should give Panama hope of pushing Mexico right until the end Sunday.
