Croatia wins 1-0 and eliminates Panama from the World Cup

Ante Budimir led Croatia to a 1-0 win over a stubborn Panama in Group 12 of the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday, as the European team picked up three crucial points that led to Panama's exit from the tournament on a night of high stakes for both teams.

Both teams went into the match looking for their first points of the tournament knowing full well that defeat would see them return home early after England and Ghana drew negatively on Tuesday in the same group.

Croatia were unable to break through Panama's organised five-man defence in the first half, and goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic waved his arms in the air at the end of the half to urge the crowd behind his own goal in order to push the players to the attack.

Croatia regained confidence in the second half when Marko Pasalic flicked a clever ball to Josip Stanišić to sprint forward and send a cross into the box that Budimir exploited to take the lead in the 53rd minute.

The victory was a remarkable end to a special night for Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, 40, who was playing his 200th international game, and his teammates carried him in the air to celebrate the achievement after the final whistle.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić told reporters about Modric: "Today, at the age of 40, he played an excellent game. He was leading the national team to a real victory. He will go down in history as the best (Croatian) player of all time."

The two sides battled hard in a physical battle in the middle of the pitch, but Panama threatened Croatia's goal in  the first half thanks to the speed of their players on the flanks and José Luis Rodriguez and Amir Morio sent crosses into the box that found no one to follow.

Dalic, who replaced Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol at half-time, added: "We need to improve and be much better especially in defence, "We weren't at the quality we wanted against England (during the 4-2 defeat in the opening game) and today we (Panama) gave us a lot of chances."

Heartbreak in Panama

As during the 1-0 defeat in the opening match against Ghana, Panama were cohesive in defence and posed an attacking threat, with Panama firing eight shots on target to Croatia's six, but only one on target and failing to capitalize.

Panama coach Tomas Christiansen told reporters: "I think we played a good game but we didn't get much."

Panama  almost equalised in the 68th  minute when Carlos Harvey sent a header towards the goal, but Livakovic touched the ball with his fingertips to turn it over the crossbar.

Referring to the costly mistakes, especially at the World Cup, Christiansen added: "We didn't have any luck in any attack and they scored a goal, but that's football."

Despite Panama's exit from the tournament, the coach said he was proud of the way his team put in convincing performances against 2018  world champions Croatia and African superpower Ghana.

Panama will continue their quest for their first World Cup win when they face group leaders England on Saturday, while  Croatia face Ghana, who are in second place four points behind England on goal difference.

Ghana force a draw against England and keep their chances in the World Cup

Ghana drew against England on Tuesday evening in the second round of Group 12 of the 2026 World Cup, currently held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

England suffered a major shock at the beginning of the match, after Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz developed a purely defensive plan, relying on the defense of the area, censoring the keys of play, and not letting striker Harry Kane move freely, while Jude Bellingham failed to give his teammates passes behind the defensive lines.

In the first half, England dominated the game in the area of operations, possessing the ball at 80 percent, relying on six shots, but they did not pose any threat to the Ghana goalkeeper's net, while Carlos Queiroz's focus was on not conceding any goals in the first 45 minutes, which explains why Jordan Ayew's teammates, who did not fire any shot at the keeper of the den, Jordan Pickford.

Ghana continued to focus on the defence of the area and quick counter-attacks, which led England coach Thomas Tuchel to make a number of changes to his starting line-up, after bringing in Ibershi Eze, Marcus Rashford, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka and Nico O'Reilly, in order to revitalize the midfield and attack.

With this precious negative draw, the Ghana national team was able to snatch a very valuable point, and raise its score to four points, before the difficult match that awaits it against the Croatia team, while the England team has a match against Panama, after coach Thomas Tuchel's battalion has four points, which means that they are close to qualifying for the round of 32 in the World Cup.