Full Time
Ghana beat Panama 1-0 with the latest possible winner you can score without extra time, Caleb Yirenkyi nicking it in the 95th minute after a Brandon Thomas-Asante run down the left. Panama were the better side for most of it — Ghana managed zero shots in the first half, which is the kind of stat you probably don't put in the press release — but they'll take the three points regardless. Ghana's goalkeeper also went off injured at half-time, so there was plenty of drama before Yirenkyi rescued them. A post-goal melee rounded things off nicely. Ghana move to three points in Group L, where England are already top after hammering Croatia 4-2; Panama stay on zero and face an uphill task against that same Croatia side next.
Pre-match Talking Points
-
1Both teams are in Group L with England and Croatia, which means this opening game is essentially a cup final before the tournament even gets going. Win and you're in the mix. Lose and you're almost certainly going home after two more beatings. There's no easing into it for either side — it's a must-win dressed up as a group stage opener.
-
2These two nations have only met once before — a 2-1 Ghana victory in a 2018 World Cup warm-up friendly. So there's no deep rivalry, no scores to settle, no painful memory fuelling either dressing room. It's a clean slate, which somehow makes it feel more tense. Both teams know that whoever loses this is staring down England and Croatia with nothing left to play for.
-
3Panama's Ismael Díaz is the one to watch. The winger won the Golden Boot at the 2025 Gold Cup — scoring twice as many goals as the next best player in the tournament. That wasn't a fluke. He has a real knack for finding space in dangerous areas, and if Ghana's defence gives him a yard, he will punish them. Remember the name before kick-off so you can say you knew.
-
4Ghana have two massive absences hanging over them. Mohammed Kudus — their most exciting attacker — is out injured. Thomas Partey — their engine in midfield — was denied a World Cup visa by the Canadian government and is stuck at the training base. That's your two best players gone before a ball is kicked. Antoine Semenyo, who scored 17 Premier League goals this season after moving to Manchester City, has to carry the load almost single-handedly.
-
5Panama are only at their second ever World Cup — their debut was 2018, and they lost all three group games without scoring once. Eight years later they arrive ranked 33rd in the world, with a Gold Cup final under their belt and a genuine belief they belong here. The difference between the two squads couldn't be more symbolic: Panama building, Ghana — once a tournament darling — now ranked 73rd and having lost six of their last seven games. The underdog and the favourite might be the wrong way round.
Team Talking Points
-
1Ghana's World Cup ended in the Round of 32 on July 3rd, beaten 1-0 by Colombia — Jhon Arias scored inside 14 minutes and Ghana didn't manage a single shot on target for the rest of the match. It's a flat way to bow out, but they'd already done the hard part just by getting there, finishing third in a group with England and Croatia in it.
-
2The high point was the group stage itself. A 1-0 win over Panama — settled by a 20-year-old, Caleb Yirenkyi, having the game of his life — and a battling 0-0 draw with England were enough to sneak Ghana through as one of the best third-placed teams, a route plenty of bigger names failed to find.
-
3The rough patch was the finishing, or lack of it. Zero shots on target across 90 minutes against Colombia is the kind of stat that follows a team home — not a scandal, just a tournament where the final ball never quite arrived when it mattered.
-
4Goalkeeper Benjamin Asare was Ghana's story. A home-based keeper making his World Cup debut, he came in and kept back-to-back clean sheets against Panama and England, with big saves against Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane along the way — the kind of run that gets a domestic-league goalkeeper a much bigger move.
-
5Ghana leave with a young goalkeeper who just outperformed his CV, a teenager with a World Cup winner to his name, and a group-stage escape act that's more than most Black Stars sides have managed lately. Building on it is the job now — turning up isn't.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Ghana got out of a group with England and Croatia in it, then didn't manage a single shot on target against Colombia — somewhere between those two facts is their entire World Cup.
🚫
Avoid saying
Don't say "Ghana always play with heart" — it's the laziest compliment in football, mentions no actual player, and any real fan will just wait for you to name one.
-
1Panama's tournament ended the way it started — a defeat, this time 2-0 to England on June 27. They lost all three group games, to Ghana, Croatia and England, without scoring a single goal, becoming the first side to go through a whole World Cup without a goal in 16 years.
-
2It reads brutally on paper, but Group L was one of the toughest draws going — England finished top, and both Croatia and Ghana went through as well. Panama were competitive for long stretches without ever getting the finishing touch that would have changed the story.
-
3The defining moment of the group actually belonged to someone else: Harry Kane became England's all-time record World Cup goalscorer against Panama in that final game, passing Gary Lineker. History was made on the pitch that day — just not Panama's.
-
4Adalberto Carrasquilla was Panama's best player throughout, a genuinely gifted midfielder who controls games from deep — the kind of player who makes a team's football look organised even when the scoreboard isn't cooperating.
-
5Not every World Cup story gets a redemption arc. This one was a tough group and a quiet exit — but Panama were there, in the biggest tournament football has, and that's still more than most countries ever manage.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Panama didn't score a single goal in this whole World Cup — first team to manage that in 16 years — but they did share a group with the eventual group winners and two other qualifiers, so it wasn't for lack of a hard draw.
🚫
Avoid saying
Don't laugh about the 'no goals' stat like it's a punchline — going three games without scoring against a group that strong is a tough way to end a tournament, and it's still an achievement to have been there in the first place.