Concacaf Gold Cup: Honduras arrives after 12 years of semi-finals, Panama defeats 5-4 on penalties

Carlos Pineda scored the decisive penalty when Honduras Panama defeated in a shootout after the score remained 1-1 after extra time at the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup on Saturday.

Honduras went to the semi -final in Santa Clara, California on Wednesday, where it will come across the winner of Saudi Aarabia and Mexico. It is the first time that Honduras has made the Gold Cup Semis since 2013.

Honduras struggled to generate many scoring opportunities until he came to life late in the second half. Los Catrachos equalized the score in the 82nd minute when Anthony Lozano was a shot by Carlos Pineda in the corner of the net after a corner kick.

Both teams made four of the five shots in the first round of the stairs. Honduras had the chance to win with his fifth attempt, but Orlando Mosquera made a diving stop on Lozano’s shot.

Panama’s Eduardo Guerrero sailed the next penalty over the net, giving Honduras a chance to win. This time Pineda benefited and buried his shot in the left corner to give Honduras the 5-4 Shootout victory.

Panama dominated the possession in the first half, but could not break through until Cristian Martínez was polluted by Honduras’ Edwin Rodríguez just within the penalty area in the 44th minute. Ismael Díaz took the shot and calmly scored his golden cup-leading sixth goal and found the left corner of the net to give Panama a 1-0 lead.

Panama scored 10 goals in the three games during the group stage, including eight in the first half. With his sixth goal, Díaz Gabriel Torres passed as the Panamanian player with the most goals in a single golden cup.

Panama is a triple Gold Cup-Tweede and loses twice in the US championship game (2005, 2013) and once to Mexico in 2023. Honduras was second in the inaugural tournament in 1991 and lost to the US

It was the first knockout round between the two countries in the Gold Cup.

Panama went on to the quarterfinals on Saturday after winning group C and defeated Guatemala, Jamaica and Guadeloupe. Honduras was second in group B and defeated Curacao and El Salvador after a 6-0 loss for Canada.