Defender Roman Torres was able to represent Panama World Cup 2018 but there is also robbed him of the opportunity to help Seattle Sounders recovered from a poor start to the campaign. Now with the World Cup duty over for the defender, he has just returned to Seattle Sounders’ MLS campaign. The Paraguay international has more than 100 caps for the national team but he was forced to exit the World Cup with an ankle injury. Panama was also eliminated from the World Cup at the group stages and it was very much expected considering that the group contained heavyweights like England and Belgium.

However, the experience of having played at one of the biggest stages in world football is likely to benefit Torres going forward. The defender claimed that it was quite an incredible experience to have been part of the competition. Panama are a tiny nation who have not had a major success when it comes to World Cup representation. In fact, the group stage appearance at the 2018 World Cup is the first time Panama have reached of the competition finals and Torres is that it was a surreal experience to hear the Panama national anthem play in front of a packed stadium.

Torres was responsible for helping Panama secure a place in the World Cup by scoring a lastgasp goal against Costa Rica in the qualifying rounds.“It was an incredible experience. You get to learn a lot of things when you’re playing at the highest level of football in the world. It was just a really beautiful experience for myself and for the national team, and we’re happy we were able to be there. To listen to your country’s national anthem playing on the biggest stage in the world, it was just an incredible feeling. It’s something we’ve never felt before,” said Torres.