This article is part of our Finding Fútbol series, a special feature produced by The Athletic to chronicle how the U.S.’s Hispanic communities celebrate and enrich the beautiful game.

Cecilio Waterman isn’t tired of any of it. It has been three months since that moment when a friend’s joke changed his life. Everyone laughs, but like all the best jokes, it’s funny because there’s some truth behind it.

Before Waterman scored a dramatic, stoppage-time winner for Panama against the U.S. men’s national team, then jumped over the advertising boards, climbed onto a TV network’s stage and celebrated with his idol, he was not exactly a household name. He got buzz, he got attention, but Waterman insists it was never about going viral or anything to do with social media, though his profiles got a boost.

“I didn’t do it for marketing. It simply came to me in the moment,” Waterman said this month.

As part of the pre-Nations League media day, he’d been asked who his idol was growing up and selected Thierry Henry, not knowing the Arsenal legend would be watching Panama’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against the U.S. pitch-side as part of CBS Sports’ coverage.

“He was there, and it came out of my heart to go hug and celebrate with him. It was totally natural,” Waterman told The Athletic.

Now that he’s known in Panama and beyond, everyone jibes. Things seem to be going a little more smoothly.

Cecilio Waterman’s goal defeated the United States and sparked an impromptu meeting with Thierry Henry. (Robin Alam / ISI Photos / Getty Images)

“When I got here with the national team, they were all reminding me of that moment, and it was just a great moment with how everything went down,” Waterman said. “I got back to my club (Chilean side Coquimbo Unido), I became a starter again, I started scoring — everyone joked it was because of Henry. It was a really beautiful moment for me.”

It wasn’t just Waterman shouting in the stadium. With a population of around 4.5 million, Panama is the smallest country in Central America, aside from Belize. Unlike other countries in the region, there haven’t been huge waves of immigration to the U.S., either. Yet, a small but mighty group of Panama supporters who live in the U.S. were at the Nations League semifinal in SoFi Stadium.

Victor Chancay, who lives in San Diego, travels around the country to support Panama in tournaments like the Nations League and Gold Cup. His group tries to get seats in the end zone to make its support felt more strongly.

As he remembers watching the Waterman goal, he says he felt like the buildup to the moment — Janpol Morales’ winning the ball back, Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla playing Waterman in — happened in slow motion.

“Us Panamanians just had an enormous shout, a huge cheer,” he said. “This goal was very, very important for Panama, and we celebrated it in a way where … you just don’t have the slightest idea how we celebrated that goal and the passage to the final.”

Like many TV viewers and the crew on the desk themselves, Chancay was confused at first when he paused his celebration to see Waterman in the face of the Arsenal legend.

“I saw him shouting, and Titi was like, ‘Damn, is this guy crazy?’” he recalls. “I said, ‘Wow, they’re going after Titi for something,’ but after, on TV, I saw he was shouting, ‘You’re my idol, you’re my idol.’ From afar, I couldn’t hear because all us Panamanians were cheering.”

Panama made its only World Cup appearance in 2018 in Russia, where Felipe Baloy celebrated after scoring the team’s first goal. (VI Images via Getty Images)

Waterman can understand the confusion, even from his countrymen. But he insists the moment was distinctly Panama, a moment when he couldn’t contain his joy and expressed it unreservedly.

“It comes from our childhood. It’s something cultural: having joy, having good energy, enjoying the moment,” Waterman said. “Sometimes when we talk, you think we’re shouting, but that’s just how we are — we’re happy. In the national team, we laugh a ton. It’s a very loving country.”

Though Waterman is happy to relive those moments, he also knows it’s time to turn the page. Like most of the current Panama group, the journeyman attacker wasn’t part of Panama’s first trip to the World Cup in 2018. At age 34, the 2026 tournament in the U.S. is undoubtedly his best chance to play in a World Cup.

Even as Los Canaleros made the Nations League final in March and the 2023 Gold Cup final, Panama manager Thomas Christiansen and his players have remained consistent: A continental trophy would be a remarkable achievement, but their focus is fixed on a return to the World Cup. That’s why clinching a place in the third and final round of qualification this week was so important for Waterman.

After that, he’ll also be working to make sure he has a place in the squad. After his goal in the semifinal, Waterman earned a start in the final against Mexico. But competition among him, semifinal starter José Fajardo and other attackers remains stiff as Christiansen works to find a consistent scorer.

“My goal is to push Panama as a group to the World Cup, do things well. In Chile, after the moment with Henry, I started to be a starter with the club. The manager there gave me confidence, I started scoring, and we’re in this good moment,” Waterman said. “Wherever you are, when you come to the national team, it’s a good time.

“When I scored that goal against the United States, I started on the bench. When you come to the national team, you’re open to supporting the team in whatever role as a good teammate so the country of Panama wins.”

Panama reached the final of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

In a small country like Panama, everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction. Chancay says when Panamanian TV stations show him and his group tailgating in the parking lot before matches, he’ll hear from friends in Central America. “There are Panamians there!” Chancay imagines the TV networks are saying the same thing.

Unlike many larger countries, many of those Panamanian reporters transmitting the images are happy to be seen wearing the national team’s jersey. In a country with such a relatively small population, viewers would find it strange if they weren’t supporting the national team. In a sense, aren’t we all rooting for Panama?

Waterman became a national hero in March, but he goes into this summer’s Gold Cup and fall’s World Cup qualification carrying the hopes and expectations of this country. Who else is going to score the goals but the guy who did it before — and received the blessing of a god of the game, to boot?

His friends continue to laugh about the moment, his teammates joking about Henry’s luck rubbing off on him during this stretch. Still, he’ll have the last laugh. He knows exactly what he’s going to do with the No. 14 Arsenal shirt Henry presented to him after the semifinal victory.

“I’m going to hang it and put it in the living room of my house,” Waterman said. “I have several shirts, but when it’s one you’ve wanted since you were a kid? I’ve got a lot of shirts from friends, but that’s the top, top.”

Now, with a smile, Waterman sets out to create another joyful moment his countrymen will remember forever – and he’ll never get tired of talking about.

(Top photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

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