Mexico and Panama battle for first CNL trophy | OneFootball

MIAMI — Mexico and Panama face off in the championship match of the 2025 Concacaf Nations League Finals on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, USA.

Both nations will be out to win their first Concacaf Nations League title. Panama is the first Central American nation to feature in the CNL title game, while Mexico will attempt to be victorious in its third attempt.

Panama became the first finalist of the 2025 edition by defeating the United States 1-0 on Thursday. Cecilio Waterman struck the match-winning goal in the 90’+4 to dethrone the defending champions.

Waterman’s goal at 93:55 is the latest by Panama in a Concacaf match since 2017, excluding extra time. The previous one came from Iván Anderson at 98:17, in extra time, also against the USA, and assisted by Adalberto Carrasquilla in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals.

Carrasquilla also assisted Waterman’s winner to pick up his first assist in the current edition of the Nations League. No Panamanian player has created more chances (16) and assists (4) across the last two CNL editions than the reigning Concacaf Men’s Player of the Year.

Mexico reached its second consecutive CNL final after a 2-nil win against Canada in the second of Thursday’s doubleheader. Raúl Jiménez scored in the 1’ and 75’ to deliver the victory.

Jiménez’s opening goal, after 49 seconds, is the quickest for Mexico in competitive matches in the last 10 years and the quickest for the forward in his professional career. Jiménez became the third player to score a brace in the semi-finals or final of the Concacaf Nations League, and the first to score from a direct free kick.

The two nations will meet in a rematch of the 2023 Gold Cup Final, won 1-nil by Mexico on an 88’ goal from Santiago Giménez, which also took place at SoFi Stadium.

Mexico has won all four previous meetings between the two sides in the Concacaf Nations League. The sides met twice in the League A group stage of the 2019–20 edition, in the third-place match of the 2023 CNL Finals and the semifinals of the 2024 CNL Finals.

Head-To-Head

This will be the 5th meeting between these two teams in the Concacaf Nations League, with Mexico winning all four previous encounters.

October 15, 2019 – MEX 3x1 PAN, Group B (Roberto Alvarado 28', José Juan Macías 75', Rodolfo Pizarro 90+2' / Carlos Salcedo own goal 42').November 15, 2019 – PAN 0-3 MEX, Group B (Raúl Jiménez 8', penalty 85', Édson Álvarez 70').June 18, 2023 – PAN 0-1 MEX, Third Place (Jesús Gallardo 4').March 21, 2024 – PAN 0-3 MEX, Semifinal (Édson Álvarez 40', Julián Quiñones 43', Orbelín Pineda 67').

This will be their second final in a Concacaf-organized tournament, the first being the 2023 Gold Cup final at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Mexico claimed a 1-0 victory thanks to Santiago Giménez’s 88th-minute goal, securing its 12th Gold Cup title.

Panama is the Central American team with the most final appearances in Concacaf tournaments, having played three Gold Cup finals (2005, 2013, 2023). Now, it will become the first Central American team to contest the Nations League final. Meanwhile, for Mexico, this will be their 17th final, of which 15 were in the Gold Cup (12 titles, 3 runner-up finishes) and 2 in the Nations League (2 runner-up finishes).

Mexico holds a 15-match unbeaten streak against Panama in all competitions (13W-2D), their longest streak without defeat in this rivalry. Panama's only two victories over Mexico came just before this streak began, both in the 2013 Gold Cup:

Before those two Panamanian wins, Mexico had a 13-game unbeaten streak against Panama (9W-4D) from 1938 to 2013.

Mexico’s biggest wins in the series:

Historical series: 30 matches