Panama v Martinique Betting Tips: Forward to overshadow defenders at FirstEnergy Stadium

Having secured a victory on match-day one, Martinique will probably have been feeling quietly confident ahead of their fixture against a weakened USA side; however, they were unable to get anything from that match, despite some promising moments. During a 3-2 defeat, they once again proved themselves to be competitive going forward but their defending left plenty to be desired. Had USA come equipped with their shooting boots, the score could’ve reflected far less positively on the Caribbean islanders.

With Panama recording a victory, albeit from behind, against Nicaragua last time out, they were always likely to be favourites ahead of this clash; however, a price of 6/11 seems to be overdoing it a touch. Martinique have clear defensive inefficiencies but that’s true of Panama also and so there are a reasons for both to fancy their chances here. Neither side has failed to score at this tournament yet and, with such weak-looking back-lines on show, the two selections that catch the eye are ‘Both Teams to Score’ and ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ at even-money and 21/20 respectively.

With four goals to their name after two matches at this tournament, Martinique are certainly a side who’re capable of getting forward and scoring goals. Having done so against both USA and Nicaragua, it’s hard not to see them getting on the score-sheet at least once here. After all, Panama haven’t looked great defensively. Where things could once again fall down for Martinique though is at the back. Against USA – a USA who were without almost all of their main players – last time out, their defending really was comical. Throughout the match, Martinique looked as though they could be cut open at any moment and were lucky not to concede more than the three they actually did.

Although Panama’s back-line has looked slightly more secure than that of Martinique – which isn’t saying much – they are also yet to keep a clean sheet and, in all honesty, you’d struggle to feel confident about them doing so here. At the other end of affairs, you could quite easily be confident about Panama’s chances of scoring though. In fact, with Martinique’s sieve-like defence, it’s hard to see how they won’t. Having scored in both of their matches at this tournament, as well as in four of their last five, Hernán Darío Gómez’s men are expected to cause plenty of problems in the final third, although don’t expect them to do so while keeping a clean sheet.

With two poor defences coming up against each other, this match looks to be a standout candidate for goals and so ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ is the perfect partner for ‘Both Teams to Score’. More than three goals arrived in both Martinique and Panama’s last fixture and the goals are once again likely to rain down when these two take to the pitch on Saturday.

More tips can be found here.