Panama and Costa Rica square off Wednesday for the right to -- in all likelihood -- face the United States men’s national team in the 2017 Gold Cup semifinal.
Los Canaleros and Los Ticos meet at 6:15 p.m. ET in Philadelphia, three hours before the reinforced USMNT faces El Salvador at the same location.
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The U.S. has never lost to El Salvador, and now boasts knockout round call-ups of Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard, Darlington Nagbe, Clint Dempsey, and Jesse Gonzalez. Dempsey enters the game one goal behind Landon Donovan for the most markers in USMNT history.
As for the first game, Los Canaleros won a home friendly against Costa Rica in January but have not won a meaningful match against Los Ticos this century.
