First place in Group C will be up for grabs on Friday when Martinique face Panama on matchday two of the Gold Cup from Red Bull Arena.

On Monday, Les Matinino held on for a 2-1 victory over El Salvador, putting them in a tie for first with the Panamanians, who got past Costa Rica by that same score.

Match preview

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Martinique began their Gold campaign positively, ending a four-match winless run in the group stage of this competition and defeating the Salvadorans at this tournament for the first time.

That was also the first time since 2017 that they had captured their first encounter at this competition, while a victory on Friday would make it the first time that this small Caribbean nation had won two matches in the group stage of the Gold Cup.

Marc Collat has seen his side go on the offensive quickly of late, with Martinique scoring half of their goals (4/8) in their previous four matches within the opening 20 minutes.

With their victory on matchday one, Les Matinino ended a five-match winless run in all competitions versus Central American sides, with their previous such triumph coming at the 2017 Gold Cup when they defeated Nicaragua (2-0).

Not only have Martinique failed to defeat Panama in its four previous meetings, but they have yet to find the back of the net against Los Canaleros, with their best result being a 0-0 draw the last time out in June 2022.

Martinique were minutes away from posting a second successive clean sheet in their opening fixture of this competition, as they have now conceded at least once in five consecutive group fixtures at the Gold Cup, a run that dates back to June 2019 after they defeated Cuba 3-0.

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One of the dark horse favourites to lift this trophy, Panama kicked off their Gold Cup campaign on the right foot, claiming their first opening victory in the group stage of this tournament since 2019.

Thomas Christiansen's men have not suffered a defeat when conceding the opening goal since giving up four unanswered versus Canada in an October 2021 World Cup qualifier, losing that match 4-1.

Their opening victory at this year's Gold Cup ended a two-match losing and goalless run for them, while they scored in the first half for the first time since the middle of March when they drew Guatemala in a friendly, 1-1.

Not since 2019 have the Panamanians lost to a Caribbean side, falling 2-0 in a CONCACAF Nations League fixture against Bermuda in September of that year, conceding in only one of their previous four fixtures versus that region.

A 3-2 defeat on matchday two of this tournament two years ago against Honduras proved costly as they finished two points behind La H for a place in the knockout round, but since then, they have won their last nine matches in all competitions when netting multiple times.

Eight different players have found the back of the net for Panama in an international outing since June 2022, with three of their last four goals coming from a different individual.

Team News

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Martinique will be missing Jonathan Rivierez for this encounter after he received a straight red card early in the second half versus El Salvador, while we saw two newcomers to their starting 11 in that contest who did not begin the previous game against Puerto Rico, with Daniel Herelle and Kevin Fortune replacing Ghislain Arbaut and Florent Poulolo.

Fortune notched his second goal in as many games on Monday, Patrick Burner has two in his previous three fixtures, Poulolo completed 15 of 16 passes and had three interceptions along with an assist, while Yannis Clementia made nine stops to preserve the victory over La Selecta.

Herelle reached 90 caps for the national team, Ronny Labonne made just his second appearance and Karl Fabien featured for the fifth time internationally.

Christiansen made numerous changes to his opening lineup who did not start in their previous Nations League encounter versus Mexico, with Orlando Mosquera getting the call in goal over Luis Mejia, while Eric Davis, Andres Andrade and Michael Murillo replaced Roderick Miller, Cesar Blackman and Alberto Quintero in the starting 11.

Jose Fajardo notched his sixth international goal and second versus Costa Rica this year, with the winner coming courtesy of Yoel Barcenas, his fourth with Los Canaleros.

Barcenas had a brace in the previous Panamanian victory over Martinique, 5-0 at the Nations League tournament last year, while Murillo, Gabriel Torres and Abdiel Arroyo netted the previous time they faced them at the Gold Cup in 2017 (3-0 win).

Martinique possible starting lineup:
Clementia; Labonne, Poulolo, Michalet, Lapis; Mandouki, Herelle; Fabien, Fortune, Burner; Labeau

Panama possible starting lineup:
Mosquera; Murillo, Escobar, Cummings, Davis; Godoy; Barcenas, Carrasquilla, Fajardo; Waterman, Diaz

We say: Martinique 0-2 Panama

There were many surprises in the opening matchday of this competition, but we do not believe Martinique have another upset in them on Friday.

Panama have most of their regulars available, and they looked compact and sharp along the backline in their opener, and if they are allowed to have 10 shots on target like El Salvador were, we have to think they will finish off some of those opportunities, given the overall quality they have in the attacking third.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

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