Honduras vs Panama Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Honduras managed to make it through to the final round of World Cup qualification at the expense of El Salvador and Canada earlier this year. Their goalless draw with Mexico in September left them with eight points after six games, one more than 3rd placed Canada and eight less than the almost perfect record of group winners Mexico.

This pits them against all of the top two sides in the three groups from that round, with Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, United States, and Honduras all competing for three automatic qualification spots and a playoff spot in the World Cup.

Honduras come into this game high on confidence as well with four wins and one draw from their last five matches. At home it’s even better, with five wins on the bounce and just one defeat in their last 11 games.

Panama, on the other hand, aren’t in the greatest of form. They made it through to this round with a decent looking ten points from their six games, but the absence of quality from Jamaica and Haiti below them made it a rather easy task.

Prior to that they contested in the Copa America Centenario edition, going out at the group stages after heavy defeats to Argentina and Chile. This, plus their qualification and friendly matches, makes it five defeats, two draws, and two wins in their last nine matches.

I’m not expecting this to be an overly high scoring game to be honest. Honduras are severely lacking in firepower up front, and instead focus on maintaining a tight ship at the back. They have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five home games and only scored more than one goal in one of these matches.

Panama, on the other hand, have failed to score in three of their last five on the road. The form and home advantage clearly lies with Honduras coming into this one, and I think they have it in them to keep their good run of form going and take all three points on Friday. Odds of 10/11 for them to claim their sixth win on the bounce look good value, and I’m going for that along with a 2-0 correct score prediction at 7/1.