Christiansen: "They deserve that point" after Panama held 1-1 by India in Bengaluru
Panama head coach Thomas Christiansen addressed the media after his side were held to a 1-1 draw by India at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on 25 September 2026 in a FIFA International Friendly. Christiansen spoke following the match about the result, his young players and areas for improvement.
India dominated the first half, applying sustained pressure through Manvir Singh and Ryan Williams, and took the lead in the 41st minute when Williams turned in Akash Mishra’s assist. Panama made changes after the interval and levelled through Omar Javier Valencia’s long-range strike past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. Both teams produced late efforts but their defences held to finish 1-1. India head coach Khalid Jamil, Player of the Match Ryan Williams and Christiansen participated in the post-match press activity.
On the result, Christiansen admitted his disappointment and offered praise for the hosts, saying: “Well, first, my thought is that we should have done more. We came here for the win. We did not achieve that. I need to say congratulations to India. They made a very good game, a serious game. They gave their all on the pitch, and I think they deserve that point “
Christiansen reiterated his pre-match intention to give young players minutes as Panama undergo a squad transition after the World Cup and reflected on the constraints around preparation, stating: “For these young players, we did not have time to work, to train, because of the travel and logistics. But I am happy to see them get their minutes. It is not easy to play with five players who are making their start. But some players were making one or two matches. So the responsibility is mine.”
He accepted responsibility for Panama’s first-half display and identified learning points, saying: “We have to learn from this experience. We were very messy in the first half, but that is my fault.” He also singled out full-backs Jair Modelo and Omar Valencia for praise, noting that Valencia scored and that both players had played a good match.
Christiansen described the tactical problems his side faced, arguing India were dangerous when afforded space: “No, I did not. I expected this team. All the teams in the world; it does not matter if they are in the FIFA 100 something, in the ranking. If you give them space and time, then they can do whatever they want. They have some very good quality players that made it difficult for us, especially in our defensive line.” He added: “With the second striker that you had up front, it was difficult to manage that. Also, as I mentioned in the first question, it was a little bit busy. As a team, we were not organised. That also gives the possibility to the opponent, India, when they recover the ball, to go and attack because we were so spread out and long in our lines. So that was one of the main reasons why we did not come in really well into the game.”
On individual performances, Christiansen singled out Ryan Williams for his influence and recalled his pre-match warning about the forward, saying: “I congratulated him on the game he played. It was good. But as I mentioned yesterday in the press conference, that was one of the players, or perhaps the player, to keep an eye on. He did a great game. He created a lot of danger, ran a lot, gave good passes and arrived at the finish.”
Christiansen said the squad will analyse the match and work on corrections once full training time is available: “Yes. A lot of things. First of all, now we will have the possibility to train with the whole squad. But of course, things that you have to improve, things you saw during the whole game. There were good things; there were bad things.” He added: “And with the analysis that we will do after the game, we will try to correct. But I will try to take more time to tell the players about the different situations and what they did wrong, so they can learn from it. This is the experience that we need to take with us.”