PANAMANIAN striker Blas Perez isn’t shy of throwing his 1.85m, 174kg frame around.

In fact, he probably picks up as many yellow cards as any terrorising defender, ever the willing one to battle amid flying elbows and studs.

His is a style of play which epitomises that of Panama — a unified, physically battle-hardened team willing to work for each other.

Perez, who has scored against Jamaica twice, has an uncanny knack of getting the ball into the net, and oftentimes it is not necessarily pretty.

“We work hard, very hard,” the 31-year-old, playing in his third FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign, told FIFA.com. “There’s a union, a harmony in this Panama team,” added the FC Dallas frontman, who has also played for Tigrez UANL and Pachuca.

“We don’t fight with each other, we’re not greedy, and when we enter the pitch, we do it as one. Our solidarity is our strength.”

Known as Super Raton (Mighty Mouse), the much-travelled striker with stints in Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Spain and even in the UAE, has always displayed a predatory instinct in the penalty area.

The Panamanian had a strong showing in the last two CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments in the USA and has now teamed up with the country’s leading all-time marksman Luis Tejada.

“We believe in ourselves and we have a lot of veterans, like myself, who can help show the way to the younger ones,” he told FIFA.com.

He’s a mobile player, who appears willing to cover every blade of grass, in his search for goals. And he’s acutely aware of the fact that this campaign might be the last for him to lead his team to the World Cup Finals.

“…Here in CONCACAF you have to take your points at home. This is our mentality: win at home and steal some points on the road.

“The moment is now, the time is now,” he said, creeping into his voice, “and we have to take advantage”.