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Preview: Panama v Tunisia Factbox

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Panama play Tunisia in their final World Cup Group G match in Saransk on Thursday, with both teams already unable to reach the knockout phase.

Where: Mordovia Arena Capacity:

Capacity: 41,685

When: Thursday, June 28, 2000 local

Referee: To be announced

Key stats:

* Panama and Tunisia both lost their first two matches in Group G and are contesting third place before they head home.

* Panama have conceded nine goals in Russia and Tunisia seven. Panama’s 6-1 defeat by England and Tunisia’s 5-2 to loss to Belgium were the highest-scoring games of the tournament.

* This is Panama’s first appearance in the World Cup finals.

* Felipe Baloy’s 78th minute goal for Panama against England was their first World Cup goal ever.

* The 37-year-old Baloy was also the fourth-oldest player to score in the World Cup after Cameroon’s Roger Milla aged 42 in 1994, Sweden’s Gunnar Gren aged 37 and 236 days in 1958, and Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco aged 37 and 151 days in 2010.

* Tunisia are making their fifth appearance in the World Cup. They have failed to make it out of the group stage each time.

* Tunisia were the first African country to win a World Cup finals game, beating Mexico in Argentina in 1978. Since then they have drawn seven and lost six.

* Panama’s coach Hernan Dario is nicknamed El Bolillo (The Truncheon). He has previous experience at the finals, having coached his native Colombia in 1998 and Ecuador in 2002.

* Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul won 74 international caps for Tunisia as a midfielder between 1985 and 1995, scoring 11 goals.

* Panama, nicknamed the “Los Canaleros” (The Canalmen) after the ocean-linking Panama Canal, are ranked 55th in FIFA’s world ratings.

Tunisia, known as “the Eagles of Carthage” are ranked 21st.

Previous meetings: This will be the first time the two sides have played each other.

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