By Ivan Orozco

GLENDALE, Arizona -Players from the Panama national team took a few moments from a training session in Houston to watch lacrosse teams scrimmage.

Panama players peeked behind a set of aluminum bleachers of a high school. Most had never seen or heard of lacrosse.

Some had never been to the United States. And they all want to remain here for the rest of the Gold Cup.

Panama will be looking for one of two remaining available slots to the quarterfinals when it takes on Nicaragua Sunday at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Coach Gary Stempel's team sits in third place with a point behind leader Guadeloupe (six points) and Mexico (four points). Nicaragua is yet to earn a point with consecutive losses but remains mathematically alive.

Nicaragua must beat Panama and receive help from Guadeloupe - which faced Mexico.

It could be interesting to see how Panama bounces back from a bizarre 1-1 draw against Mexico that featured skirmishes between both teams resulting in three player ejections and the ejection of Mexican coach Javier Aguirre.

Panama midfielder Ricardo Phillips was one of the players ejected due to an altercation with Aguirre.

Phillips is suspended for the next match against Nicaragua along with three others.

Defenders Felipe Baloy and Armando Gun, and midfielder Nelson Barahona are also suspended.

Joel Solanilla, Carlos Rivera, Victor Herrera and Manuel Torres are expected to replace the suspended players.

Torres is slated to fill in Phillips' position.

Panama soccer federation president Ariel Alvarado is appealing Phillips' red card.

"At the end of the day our player was expelled on a play that was over, and this is not correct," Alvarado said in a statement. "What Phillips did is almost a natural human reaction."

Alvarado said Phillips was provoked by Aguirre and should not be punished.

He also criticized Mexican fans for tossing items and accosting Panama players as they left the field.

Stempel said he didn't know where the appealing process stands.

"That's in the hands of our executives," Stempel said. "I haven't heard anything about it. It doesn't matter what happened against Mexico. We're now focused. The team is a unit. You don't need a game like (Mexico) to unify a team. The team has always been united."

Phillips said he doesn't hold a grudge against Aguirre.

"We're taking it as an incident. That's an episode we already went through," Phillips said. "The team is thinking on (Sunday's) game which is very important."