Brave Panama’s World Cup fight ends as Croatia stay alive with a 1-0 win
A valiant fightback from Panama was not enough as Croatia secured a 1-0 win in Toronto to keep their hopes of elimination from the World Cup alive on Tuesday (June 23). Ante Budimir’s strike in the 54th minute was the difference in a game where Panama put the 2018 finalists to work.
CROATIA VS PANAMA HIGHLIGHTS
It was Panama’s second loss of the tournament by one goal, which means they are out of this year’s World Cup. While Croatia had most of the possession, it was Panama who tested them with 8 shots on goal with Cristian Martinez and others providing plenty of fast breaks throughout the match.
PANAMA PUT CROATIA UNDER HUGE PRESSURE
The first half of this Group L match was similar to England vs Ghana in terms of chances created as they came at the expense of both teams.
Croatia started quickly, Luka Modric, playing his 200th international, headed over the bar. While Panama were happy to play on the counter, the pace they had was terrifying, especially when Martinez was the target and always on the other end.
Panama were slowly getting into the match with consistent attacks as Croatia seemed to be under pressure. In the 16th minute, Amir Murillo sent a good pass into the box and Jose Fajardo just couldn’t convert it.
But confidence continued to grow in Panama’s ranks and Dominic Livakovic had to step in to save Croatia. Livakovic is a cult hero for his performance against Brazil in 2022, saving Jose Luis Rodriguez’s header.
Croatian boss Zlatko Dalič was frustrated and let his players know about it. But they still remained under the pump with Pongracic struggling.
Croatia finally had a shot on goal in stoppage time when Martin Baturina headed in from 25 yards and his low effort was turned around the post by Panamanian goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera.
When the first half whistle blew, it seemed that it was Panama who had all the momentum and were by far the best team on the pitch.
PANAMA PUNISHED FOR LACK OF ATTACKING EDGE
When it came to the loss to Ghana, Panama dominated the stats in terms of possession, shots on goal and shots on goal. Against Croatia, three of the eight shots they fired were on target. Croatia had three of their six attempts on goal.
Thus, they struggled with the top end throughout the tournament, which eventually led to their elimination.
Despite Panama pushing hard, there was no panic from Croatia with the game. They knew they only needed one chance to open the game for them.
Josip Stanisic made a good run down the right and passed the ball to Budimir, who made no mistake with his header.
Croatia should have been 2-0 up as Marco Pasalic was on the end of a counter attack. Pasalic got into the box and tried to drink it. The ball fell kindly to him and the rebound went well wide
Panama had trouble testing Livakovic a lot in the second half, but she quickly made up for it with another set of nice chances. Murrillo tested the Croatian goalkeeper and Livakovič did a great job, even stopping various attempts.
In the 80th minute, Harvey came through from close range and his shot just bounced off the side netting. That’s when Croatia went into self-preservation and decided to eventually skate away from the result.
Panama tried their best to get back into the match, but the Croatian defense forced the opponent to waste seconds.
In the end, Croatia showed their defensive class to get the result and set up a shootout between themselves and Ghana for a direct place in the knockout stages.
Panama will now play for pride and face England on June 27.
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Published on:
Jun 24, 2026 07:21 IST