Honduras edged Panama 5-4 on penalty kicks after the Central American teams were even at 1-1 through regulation on Saturday night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals in Glendale, Ariz.
Carlos Pineda’s right-footed shot to the bottom left corner ended the drama as Honduras knocked out Panama, which failed on the previous kick when Eduardo Guerrero’s attempt was too high.
Panama’s successful penalties came from Fidel Escobar, Ismael Diaz, Carlos Harvey and Eric Davis. Anibal Godby hit the right post with a left-footed shot in the third round, and Guerrero also missed.
Honduras started well with Luis Palma, Kervin Arriaga, Joseph Rosales (after VAR review) and Denil Maldonado. Choco Lozano’s shot was saved by Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera.
The semifinals will pit Honduras against Mexico on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Mexico shut out Saudi Arabia 2-0 in their quarterfinal match on Saturday night in Glendale.
Panama scored first on Diaz’s penalty shot one minute into first-half stoppage time. Honduras’ Edwin Rodriguez fouled Cristian Martinez in the penalty area. Diaz sent a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
Diaz scored six of Panama’s 11 goals in the tournament.
Honduras squared the match on Lozano’s goal in the 82nd minute. Panama withstood a header from Maldonado on Rosales’ cross moments earlier, followed by Pineda’s left-foot shot that just missed to the right following a corner kick.
Then Pineda assisted Lozano on another corner, with the tying goal coming from close range and placed in the bottom right corner.
Honduras leads the series 4-1-1 in Gold Cup meetings with Panama.
Panama led 68.4 percent to 31.6 percent of possessions, had more shot attempts (14-10), shots on goal (6-3) and corner kicks (13-5).
Eldrick Menjivar made five saves for Honduras, while Panama’s Mosquera made one.
Panama, seeking its first Gold Cup crown, went 3-0-0 (9 points) in Group C, beating Jamaica (4-1), Guatemala (1-0) and Guadeloupe (5-2).
Honduras, in the knockout round for the first time since 2021, was 2-1-0 (6 points) to finish one point behind Canada for second place in Group B. Honduras responded to a 6-0 loss to Canada with victories over El Salvador (2-0) and Curacao (2-1).
–Field Level Media
