Panama's English coach warns Three Lions of 'princes v paupers' World Cup upset

Panama’s English-born coach Gary Stempel has warned that national pride will override a staggering wage disparity when his side face England in their World Cup group-stage clash in New York on Saturday.

Stempel, who was born to an English mother and spent close to 30 years living in England before settling in Central America, described the fixture as a potential ‘princes v paupers’ contest — but insisted the gap in salaries would count for nothing once the whistle blew.

“They are very proud players, very proud to play for Panama,” Stempel told Mirror Online. “And when they step on the pitch for the match on Saturday it doesn’t matter if you earn £625 a week or £300,000 a week. You’re representing your country in the World Cup — that’s all that matters.”

The financial contrast between the two squads is stark. Several Panama players earn as little as £625 a week competing in the Panamanian Premier League, while England’s lowest-paid squad member earns around £100,000 a week — almost 200 times more.

“Some of the Panama players play here in the local national league,” Stempel explained. “They will be earning, perhaps, 3,000 or possibly 4,000 US dollars each month. It’s obviously nothing compared to what the Premier League stars are earning. They all dream of a move to a European club. It’s life-changing for them and their families.”

A victory for England on Saturday would secure their passage to the knockout rounds and almost certainly hand them top spot in the group, with a potential round-of-32 tie in Atlanta and a round-of-16 fixture in Mexico City to follow.

The two nations last met at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where England ran out emphatic 6-1 winners. Panama’s journey to that tournament was shadowed by tragedy — Amilcar ‘Mickey’ Henriquez, one of the country’s greatest ever players with 85 international caps, was assassinated by an unknown gunman the year before the tournament. His partner Gixiani later described discovering his body on their driveway after hearing the shots, a killing that sent shockwaves through Panamanian football and the wider nation.