With the fixtures falling in the international window and just a few months out from the World Cup, it is envisaged that both squads will be at full strength, barring injury, which gives a good litmus test for Bafana as to where they stand.
Panama were unbeaten in their World Cup qualifiers, winning seven and drawing three of their 10 matches, scoring 19 goals and conceding five. They finished top of their third-round qualifying group, which also included Suriname, Guatemala and El Salvador.
They are in Group L at the finals and will take on England, Croatia and Ghana in a tough pool, likely targeting the game against the latter as the win they might need to advance to the round of 32.
So facing African opposition makes sense for them, though the styles of Ghana – aggressive and direct – and Bafana Bafana are quite different. Bafana are more of a ball-playing team, using technical quality over power.
South Africa coach Hugo Broos is using the games to prepare for the World Cup opener against Mexico on June 11 and, in that regard, they are useful. The styles of the two teams are not dissimilar.
Panama are ranked number 33 in the world, which is actually down three places from their previous position. Last year they reached as high as 29. Bafana are languishing in 60th.
Panama had been on a 13-game unbeaten run until a 1-0 home loss to Mexico in January, though both sides fielded depleted squads given the scheduling of the fixture, so it is hard to know what conclusions to draw from the result.
Their run started after a 2-1 defeat to Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final in March last year, after which they won eight and drew five of their next 13 games.
That run did include a penalty shoot-out defeat to Honduras in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals.
They are a team with goals in them. They scored in all but one of those 13 fixtures, a 0-0 draw with Suriname in World Cup qualifying. They found the net 26 times in all, an average of almost two per game. They conceded only nine times.
They kept four clean sheets in a row away from home during that run, which suggests they set up defensively and look for counter-attacks, a tactic that seems to have worked for them.
That being said, their coach is former striker Thomas Christiansen, a Dane who actually won a couple of international caps for Spain.
The only other fixture Panama have lined up ahead of the World Cup is a meeting with Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on May 31 before they clash with Ghana in Toronto on June 17.