Panama began its preparation in Durban, South Africa, with the aim of holding preparation matches against the African nation's team this Friday, March 27, and Tuesday, March 31. A press release from the Panamanian Football Federation (FPF) reported that a total of nine players took part in yesterday's training session. On that date, defenders Roderick Miller, José Córdoba, and Eric Davis, along with midfielders Cristian Martínez and Yoel Bárcenas, joined the group. The first to report in South Africa were Amir Murillo, Orlando Mosquera, Luis Mejía, and Cecilio Waterman. Yesterday's training session was a gym session at the team's hotel, as part of the work plan designed by physical trainer Christian Beguer and physiotherapist Juan Carlos Andrión to begin physical preparation and a recovery phase after the travel. The rest of the called-up players will be joining in the coming days, according to the scheduled itinerary, until the group of 23 summoned players is completed tomorrow, Wednesday. It is expected that 11 new players will report to the camp today, Tuesday, to complete a total of 20 summoned players, which will be the first training session on the field for the national squad. Today's training is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. Panama time) at the facilities of the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium, a training venue for the 2010 World Cup. The first match between Bafana Bafana and Panama will be played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, starting at 7:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. Panama time). The second friendly match will be played on March 31 at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town at 12:30 p.m. Panama time.
