Men’s international friendly match preview: Mexico vs Panama

Mexico is set to return to action as they face Panama in Nissan stadium in Nashville. Mexico will play the match with the Olympic team that is set to take part in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, along with their overage players while Panama will go with their senior national team to prepare for the Gold Cup. Although it will be the Olympic team, technically it will be a senior match and thus will be coached by national team coach Gerardo Martino. Olympic coach Jaime Lozano will be part of the coaching staff, but will not be leading the team. Mexico will play again on Saturday in the Memorial Coliseum in a friendly against Nigeria in preparation for the 2021 Gold Cup. Most of the senior team is in Los Angeles in preparation for this match.

Mexico will have a risk on Wednesday by going with the Olympic team against a tough Central American side that has a tendency to be physical. Yet with three overage players in Guillermo Ochoa, Luis Romo, and Henry Martin, and the strong possibility that Hector Moreno plays as he made the trip from Los Angeles along with Martino, it should be an important experience for the Olympic team. A lot of players have a lot of experience with the senior national team like Carlos Rodriguez, Roberto Alvarado, Diego Lainez, and Cesar Montes. Also, the fact is that the Olympic team has few opportunities to play, especially after their European tour earlier this month was used as a final audition and not as preparation friendlies for the full squad. Still Panama will be working towards preparing for the Gold Cup. It will be a tough test for the Olympic team, and getting a positive result for Mexico will not be easy. It will not be surprising if the match ends in a tie, and if the level of play isn’t the best as it will be the official start of the final process before Mexico makes their Olympic debut against France.

Game: Mexico vs. Panama

Date: Wednesday, June 306th

Time: 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 p.m. Central, 6:00 p.m. Pacific, 1:00 a.m. UTC

Venue: Nissan Stadium (Nashville, Tenn.)

Television: United States - TUDN, UniMás; Mexico - TUDN, Azteca 7, Canal 5 Televisa

Streaming: fuboTV (Subscription), TUDN En Vivo