We try not to hurt anyone – Gomez defends Panama approach

Panama head coach Hernan Dario Gomez insisted his side did not cross the line in taking a physical approach to their World Cup debut against Belgium.

Dries Mertens’ stunning volley and Romelu Lukaku’s brace earned a 3-0 victory for the Red Devils in the opening fixture of Group G in Sochi on Monday.

Panama attempted to put their more illustrious opponents off their stride, picking up five cautions as the likes of Eden Hazard, Mertens and Kevin De Bruyne found themselves thrust into a combative contest.

But Gomez was quick to defend his players, suggesting that Belgium’s star-studded line-up gave as good as it got.

“We are very organised and play tactically, we try to organised and play our game,” he told a media conference. “We might look a little tough, but other teams are also physically strong.

“We never have the intention to be tough. But they are strong men and today I have seen the Belgium players playing hard as well. We try not to hurt anyone, we do not have bad intentions.”

Asked if he was worried about potential suspensions with England and Tunisia still to come, Gomez replied: “I’m not thinking about that yet, we have our basis and must keep it.

“We’re going to play against a strong rival, England, but we learned a lot in the game. What I asked from my players is for them to stay calm.

“We have to play the next game and that will be very tough, we will have to do our best.”

Gomez at least took a degree of solace in his side confounding some of the more dismissive predictions and only losing by three in their maiden appearance at the World Cup finals.

“It’s not a positive result because when you lose it’s not positive, we lost 3-0 but it could have been a landslide, that’s what people thought,” he said.

“When you consider our history, where their players play at their clubs and where ours play, there was not a big difference. I think we did a good job. People thought we might lose by seven but it was only 3-0, even if we do not like it.

“Now we have to concentrate on the next game, that will be just as tough as we need to make a huge effort.”