Forwards Abdiel Arroyo of Maccabi Petah Tikva, Gabriel Torres of Costa Rica’s Alajuelense, Freddy Góndola of Venezuela’s Táchira and Ismael Díaz of Tauro were among 27 players announced Thursday for Panama’s World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador, the United States and Canada.
Defender Harold Cummings of Bolivia’s Always Ready and midfielders Armando Cooper of Israel’s Maccabi Petah Tikva and Cristian Martínez of Plaza Amador also were among seven players picked who were not on the roster for opening qualifiers
Players dropped included Arminia Bielefeld defender Andrés Andrade, Alianza Atlético defender Azmahar Ariano, Universitario defender Iván Anderson, Houston Dynamo midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla, LA Galaxy II midfielder Carlos Harvey along with midfiedler Romeesh Ivey of Bulgaria’s Etar Veliko Tarnovo, forward José Fajardo of Ecuador’s 9 de Octubre and forward Cecilio Waterman of Chile’s Everton.
No. 68 Panama started with a 0-0 home draw against Costa Rica, won 3-0 at Jamaica and tied 1-1 at home against Mexico. It plays at 65th-ranked El Salvador on Oct. 7, hosts the No. 13 U.S. three days later and is at 51st-ranked Canada on Oct. 13.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: José Calderón (San Francisco, Panama), Luis Mejía (Fénix, Uruguay), Orlando Mosquera (Always Ready, Bolivia)
Defenders: César Blackman (Dunajská Streda, Slovakia), Harold Cummings (Always Ready, Bolivia), Eric Davis (Dunajská Streda, Slovakia), Fidel Escobar (Alcorcón, Spain), Jorge Gutiérrez (Tauro), Óscar Linton (Imabari, Japan), Michael Amir Murillo (Anderlecht, Belgium), Jiovany Ramos (Atlético Venezuela)
Midfielders: Abdiel Ayarza (Cienciano), Yoel Bárcenas (Leganés, Spain), Armando Cooper (Maccabi Petah Tikva, Israel), Aníbal Godoy (Nashville, MLS), Eduardo Guerrero (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel), Cristian Martínez (Plaza Amador), Alberto Quintero (Universitario), José Luis Rodríguez (Gijón, Spain), César Yanis (Zaragoza)
Forwards: Abdiel Arroyo (Maccabi Petah Tikva, Israel), Rolando Blackburn (The Strongest, Bolivia), Jair Catuy (Always Ready, Bolivia), Ismael Díaz (Tauro), Freddy Góndola (Táchira, Veneziela), Alfredo Stephens (Aragua), Gabriel Torres (Alajuelense, Costa Rica)
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
