{"id":12873,"date":"2025-03-21T09:35:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T10:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/?p=12873"},"modified":"2025-03-21T17:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:36:26","slug":"thierry-henry-reveals-what-panama-star-said-to-him-in-wild-celebrations-against-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/thierry-henry-reveals-what-panama-star-said-to-him-in-wild-celebrations-against-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Thierry Henry reveals what Panama star said to him in wild celebrations against USA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cecilio Waterman celebrated his dramatic winner for Panama with Arsenal icon Thierry Henry (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s been well over a decade since the great Thierry Henry took centre-stage on a football pitch in his pomp.<\/p>\n

But the legendary ex-Arsenal forward unwittingly became the star of the show as Panama stunned the United States to reach the Concacaf Nations League<\/a> final on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

With 20 minutes remaining and extra-time looming, Panama head coach Thomas Christiansen decided to throw on Cecilio Waterman in place of Jose Fajardo at Los Angeles<\/a>’ SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

Waterman still had work to do after receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Adalberto Carrasquilla in the 94th minute, but the 33-year-old forward took a perfect touch before arrowing a low strike beyond Matt Turner<\/a> into the far corner.<\/p>\n

The veteran attacker instinctively took his shirt off in celebration and jumped over the advertising hoardings, with his fellow countrymen trailing in his wake in wild scenes behind the goal.<\/p>\n

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It soon became clear that Waterman was making a beeline for iconic former Arsenal and France forward Henry, who was sat alongside former USA captain Clint Dempsey and host Kate Abdo in CBS Sports’ makeshift studio.<\/p>\n

A visibly shocked Henry could hardly believe the chaos ensuring around him as Waterman and his jubilant Panama team-mates formed an impromptu huddle around him.<\/p>\n

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TU ERES MI \u00cdDOLO TU ERES MI \u00cdDOLO pic.twitter.com\/q6EcfRxb4c<\/a><\/p>\n

— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) March 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Speaking after Panama held firm for the remaining few minutes to seal a 1-0 win, Henry lifted the lid on what Waterman had said to him during the incredible stoppage-time scenes.<\/p>\n

‘That was outstanding. Like, I was shocked, in fairness,’ he told CBS Sports.<\/p>\n

‘That was a hell of a finish by the way. I was shocked. Obviously he knew where we were.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"United\t<\/div>
Waterman came on and scored the only goal of the game in Los Angeles (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Former Arsenal forward Henry was on punditry duty at SoFi Stadium (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Joking aside, I never thought I was going to be part of a celebration like that and not scoring the goal and not even being on the field. <\/p>\n

‘But look, that\u2019s what it meant to them. I saw in his eyes because he was pretty close, that he was in a trance. <\/p>\n

‘Thank God I understand Spanish. When he said, “Eres mi idolo\u2019, (“you are my idol”) and I was like, “OK, phew!”. I don\u2019t know where we were going there, but that was special, really.’<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"United\t<\/div>
Pochettino’s USA face Canada for third place on Sunday (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Waterman later joined the CBS Sports team to discuss his dramatic last winner and there was a touching moment as the Coquimbo Unido forward gifted his Panama shirt to the 1998 World Cup winner.<\/p>\n

The pair then shared an embrace, with Waterman explaining his feelings during the celebration and how Henry had been his idol since childhood.<\/p>\n

‘The truth is that the day before at the hotel they asked me who my idol was when I was little, and I said it was Henry,’ Waterman said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Panama\t<\/div>
Panama secured their place in the final where they face Mexico (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘I always watched him growing up. When I was little, I watched him at Arsenal, and well, scoring that goal and seeing him there, it was crazy. <\/p>\n

‘I went to celebrate with him, and the celebration happened by chance. <\/p>\n

‘I told him, “You’re my idol”.’<\/p>\n

Panama return to the same stadium to take on Mexico in Sunday’s final at the same stadium, while the USA – who had won the three previous Concacaf Nations League titles – face off against Canada for third place.<\/p>\n

Waterman hopes the victory stands his nation in good stead ahead of their World Cup qualifying campaign, which continues in June against Belize and Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

‘Panama has grown a lot,’ he added.<\/p>\n

‘The coach has implemented a rhythm of play for us, studying our opponents well. <\/p>\n

‘We hope to open a path to the World Cup, because it would be great for us.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cecilio Waterman celebrated his dramatic winner for Panama with Arsenal icon Thierry Henry (Picture: Getty) It’s been well over a decade since the great Thierry Henry took centre-stage on a football pitch in his pomp. But the legendary ex-Arsenal forward unwittingly became the star of the show as Panama stunned the United States to reach…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12881,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12873\/revisions\/12881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preforeclosurefortunes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}