Michael O’Neill: Panama have passion but England should escape pain

As a friendly fixture against a side from these isles formed part of the World Cup debutants’ final preparations for Russia, O’Neill was struck by the mood. “They are well organised, they get men behind the ball,” says the Northern Ireland manager. “But beyond that, they play with a great pride; this is a massive thing for them.

“When we played, the ground was virtually sold out, there were fireworks before the game, kids on the pitch and all sorts going on. You quickly realised what a big moment this is for them, to be in the World Cup. So they’ll play with a great passion.

“You saw that in the first half against Belgium. It was obvious from the start that these guys would defend for their lives and it took a bit of brilliance to open that game up. Belgium had huffed and puffed a little bit.”

Northern Ireland are famed for the level of detail which they obtain on opponents, so O’Neill’s testimony is useful. Albeit he feels England should beat their “workmanlike” and lower-ranked opposition, he warned against categorising Panama.

“They’re not a typical Central American team in a lot of ways,” O’Neill says. “We played Costa Rica, for example, who had a lot of movement, interchanging and could deal with the ball. Panama weren’t really like that. They were more athletic and robust. They didn’t have an outstanding individual player or playmaker, they had midfielders who picked up second balls then passed it fairly basically. There was nobody we felt ‘We need to get on top of him in case he dictates the game’ about.

“The young lad José Luis Rodríguez made his debut against us on the left flank. He can’t get a game in Gent’s first team but the fact is, he is there. They seem to have high hopes for him. The central midfield three are very athletic and get about the pitch well. The two big centre-backs will compete well; I felt Fidel Escobar was probably their best player. If they play Adolfo Machado – I know he has been struggling with injury – he has the threat of a long throw as well.

“I’d imagine they will play 4-5-1 and the striker, Blas Pérez, is 37 so he isn’t going to give any team a lot of problems in behind. He does, though, have a decent scoring record in international football.”

Another Panama asset relates to tried and trusted performers. “They have a lot of players who have a large number of caps,” says O’Neill. “In the team that started against Belgium they had five players with over 100 caps so albeit this is their first time at a major tournament, they have a different type of experience and experience with each other.”

The overwhelming sense, though, is that England will prevail. “We played them on a very hot night, with two days’ preparation, and they didn’t cause us that many problems really. And if you look at it, other than one change in the back four, we played the team that started the World Cup.

“Hopefully you score early and that takes a bit of the anxiety out of the situation. Once Belgium scored, spaces started to open up that hadn’t been there in the first half because Panama had to change their gameplan. The best chance they’ll really have to trouble England, and this has been a feature of the World Cup, would be a set piece. I think England will have too much for them.”