The criticism is not only about one training session. It taps into a wider argument around the expanded World Cup and whether more places inevitably bring more uneven teams to the finals.
That is the risk for emerging nations. One viral clip can outweigh months of work, especially when a side is not packed with players from Europe’s glamour clubs.
It would still be lazy to reduce Panama to a few rough moments in training. The report says they came through qualifying by winning their group and sealing their place with a 3-0 victory over El Salvador. That points to a side with structure and resilience, even if the ceiling may be limited.
There is also experience in the squad. Players such as Jose Cordoba, Amir Murillo, Andres Andrade, Cesar Blackman and Adalberto Carrasquilla give Panama a base drawn from different leagues and different styles.
The bigger reason nerves are rising is history. At 2018, Panama lost all three group games, and the report says the meeting with England ended in a 6-1 defeat. That memory still hangs over any new World Cup discussion.
The next storyline is simple: whether Panama can turn the conversation back to results. Training-ground judgment is cheap. Group-stage points are what will matter when the tournament begins.