After leading Panama to their first World Cup appearance in the Central American nation’s history, Seattle Sounders defender Román Torres exited Thursday’s final Group G FIFA World Cup match against Tunisia in the 56th minute with an injury. Panama announced early Thursday that Torres was one of six players who would be retiring from the national team at the conclusion of the match.
Torres has had an illustrious Panama career with 97 caps and 10 goals, including the historic late game-winner against Costa Rica on the final day of World Cup Qualifying to secure Los Canaleros’ berth in Russia this summer.
Panama were searching for their first World Cup win after dropping their first two results, and they took a 1-0 lead into the halftime locker room. Torres passed a ball back to José Luis Rodríguez, whose one-timed shot deflected into the net off Yassine Meriah for an own goal in the 33rd minute. Tunisia would pull two back in the second half behind tallies from Fakhereedine Ben Youssef in the 51st minute and Wahbi Khazri in the 66th minute.
