Roman Torres, Panamanian hero
By Alex Orillac
Seattle Sounders star defender Roman Torres has made history for his home country, Panama, by scoring an 88th-minute goal sending Los Canaleros to their first ever World Cup
This past month marked the end of the famous Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, also known as the Hex. This year the Hex once again showed us how the beautiful game has such an amazing impact on its participants. If you had told me that the Hex would have ended the way it did on the Tuesday morning I’d say you are insane. In the morning we had the US leading third place by two points while having Panama and Honduras tied in 4th and 5th place. The Americans were playing Trinidad at Port of Spain, Honduras was facing Mexico at San Pedro Sula, and Panama was facing Costa Rica at the renowned Rommel Fernandez stadium. In an unexpected turn of events Panama defeated Costa Rica, Honduras beat Mexico, and Trinidad defeated the US eliminating them from the World Cup.
In order to catch the importance of this story, we must go back 4 years in the past, the day the US was playing Panama at the Rommel Fernandez. On a rainy Panamanian night, Los Canaleros needed a win against the Americans and a win from Los Ticos against Mexico that same night in order to secure the intercontinental playoff with New Zealand.
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By the 80th minute, everything was going right, Panama had a 2-1 lead against the Americans and the Mexicans were losing to Costa Rica. Later in the 90th +1’ minute, American Graham Zusi found the back of the net leaving the whole stadium shocked and speechless. A few seconds later the Americans scored the game-winner, but the damage was already done. Panama was just 5 minutes shy of qualifying for their first intercontinental playoffs with a chance of participating in their first World Cup. On that day a younger Roman Torres stood speechless on the pitch as he saw his team’s and nation’s dreams crumble before their eyes. Panama had been eliminated from Brazil 2014.
Such performances in the qualifiers earned the young Roman Torres a move to American powerhouse Seattle Sounders from Colombian club Millonarias where he was a member of the team of the season. He joined the struggling MLS side in 2015. During a match against San Jose Earthquakes, the Panamanian injured his knee and was forced to sit out the remainder of the season. The Panamanian legend didn’t give up and fought hard for his return to the pitch. He was back for the 2016 season. The Sounders began struggling but eventually, they found their mojo and completely surprised every making it all the way to the MLS Cup finals against Toronto Fc.
Roman was a starter in the tight game against Toronto in the MLS Cup finals. The Sounders were stuck in a hard-fought match which ended up going to extra time and further on penalties. The penalties went and go, and after 9 shots the score was 4-4, and it was the Sounder’s turn to kick the ball. The man with the chance to end the game and deliver the Sounder’s first ever cup was no other than Roman Torres. The Panamanian walked calmly to the penalty spot and converted the game-winner with ease. He had done it, he had brought silverware to the city of Seattle!
Now, going back to Tuesday’s match, in halftime Honduras was losing to Mexico and the Americans were 2-0 down against Trinidad. Panama had the opportunity to qualify directly for their first ever World Cup with a win, the only issue was that they were 1-0 down. There were many mixed feelings in the Rommel Fernandez, there were many hopeful fans, as well as some angry ones and finally some sad, crestfallen fans. As the players walked out for the last time, guided by captain Roman Torres, they were determined to change recent history. The lads did just that.
As soon as the second half kicked off, the Panamanians gave their everything on the pitch. Los Canaleros managed to score in the 57th minute on a mysterious goal awarded by the referee, but nevertheless, the dream was still alive. On the other matches, the US was still losing to Trinidad 2-1 and Mexico was being defeated by Honduras 3-2. Neither Panama nor Costa Rica could break the deadlock. In the 85th-minute Panamanian captain told fellow midfielder Anibal Godoy, the San Jose Earthquakes player, that he was going to go up. What happens next is a scene that seems like it was taken from a movie. Roman goes upfront on the attack, Luis Tejada receives the ball and sends an amazing headed pass to Roman who without thinking about it twice takes the shot.
The whole crowd went silent for a couple of seconds before erupting in joy. Roman had scored and Panama was going to go to their first ever World Cup. Stories like this are what makes this game truly beautiful.