Abdiel Castrellon gave Los Canaleros a half-time lead before Michael De Leon and Fernando Mena ensured the central Americans took all three points from the match.

Javlon Anorov scored a late consolation goal for debutants Uzbekistan in the Group A encounter, the-afc.com reported.

The first half was evenly played throughout, with both goalkeepers in Uzebekistan’s Rustam Umarov and Panama’s Jaime Londono forced to make important saves for their teams. Uzbekistan then went closest to scoring after Ilhomjon Hamroev and Dilshod Irsaliev both struck Panama’s right post.

It was not until late in the first half that the Panamanians made the breakthrough with the game’s first goal. After taking a pass from captain Edgar Rivas, Castrellon played an exquisite give-and go with Oscar Hinks before slotting a neat finish past Umarov for a 1-0 lead at the break.

The Asian side looked to get on level terms after restart, but Irsaliev could only strike the crossbar after breaking in on the Panamanian goal.

That proved a costly miss for the Uzbeks, as Panama doubled their lead midway through the second half. Jorge Perez forced a turnover in his own half before breaking in on the Uzbek goal and passing off to De Leon, who finished first-time past Umarov for 2-0. Fernando Mena made sure Panama claimed a valuable win from this opening match by firing home a Jose Brown pass for a three-goal advantage.

The Uzbeks did strike back in the late stages, as Anorov scored his country’s first-ever goal in a Futsal World Cup when he tapped home from close range for a 3-1 final score.

Uzbekistan return to Group A action in Cali on Tuesday 13 September to face hosts Colombia.