World Cup 2026 Day 7: Group L Recap

Wednesday brought the final gameday of the 1st round of the group stage, and we'll resume tomorrow with Groups A and B. Group L finally got its 2026 World Cup campaign underway, with England taking on Croatia, followed by Ghana facing Panama later on. 

General view inside the stadium before the match

Issei Kato

England 4 - 2 Croatia 

The first game in Group L was between two teams that have faced off often in recent major tournaments, with England and Croatia going head-to-head once again at the FIFA World Cup. 

Zlatko Dalic went with a 3-4-2-1 formation for his Croatian side, with captain and national icon, 40-year-old Luka Modric, starting as one of the two central midfielders. Luka Vuskovic was the central defender of the three center-backs, with FC Dallas’ own Petar Musa leading the line in the city where he plays his club football. 

Thomas Tuchel stuck with his usual 4-2-3-1 setup for England, with Marc Guehi surprisingly left out, as Ezri Konsa and John Stones were the center-back duo the German manager went for. Jude Bellingham managed to beat out Morgan Rogers for the 10 spot behind Harry Kane, while Anthony Gordon managed to beat out Marcus Rashford on the left wing. Noni Madueke started on the right wing with Bukayo Saka not 100% fit. 

England got off to a quick start, and just after 5 minutes, they found themselves with a penalty as Luka Modric attempted to clear the ball but instead kicked an incoming Noni Madueke, who got to the ball first. Harry Kane stepped up to take the penalty, as he always does, and to everyone’s surprise saw his poor effort saved by Livakovic in goal, or so everyone thought... 

Just as Croatia had finished celebrating, the referee and VAR called for a retake of the penalty as it was judged that Croatia players had encroached into the penalty area before Kane had struck the ball. Kane stepped up for the retake and slotted it into the bottom corner to put England 1-0 up, seven minutes in. 

England's Marcus Rashford celebrates scoring their fourth goal with teammates

Kai Pfaffenbach

The game was full of half-chances for both sides for a long time, with both teams having shots from range, but on the stroke of the half-hour mark, Jude Bellingham had a massive chance to double England’s lead off a brilliant Madueke cross, but Jude just couldn’t stretch to get the ball. 

England were made to pay for their missed chances as five minutes later, Martin Baturina scored an absolute scorcher from outside the box into the top left-hand corner to equalize for Croatia. 

England were back in the lead once again, though, just seven minutes later, after Declan Rice put a brilliant corner delivery into the middle of the box and Harry Kane grabbed his 2nd of the game with a bullet of a header. 

Thomas Tuchel’s side thought they were heading into the halftime break 2-1 up, but with the last kick of the first half, Croatia scored again to make it 2-2. A lovely, well-worked ball into the box was headed down to Petar Musa, who slotted the ball home through Pickford’s legs, and the teams went into halftime tied at 2-2. 

Whatever Thomas Tuchel said or possibly screamed at his side during the halftime break worked, as within a minute of the 2nd half starting, England, for the third time, had the lead thanks to a Jude Bellingham run down the right-hand side and a brilliant finish to the far corner from the Real Madrid midfielder. 

Croatia's Dominik Livakovic reacts after England's Marcus Rashford scored their fourth goal

Kai Pfaffenbach

Jude had a golden chance to double his tally just a minute later with a shot from outside the box, but Livakovic made a great save. The Croatian keeper was called into action from the resulting corner as he saved a Nico O’Reilly header, which the young defender should have slotted home. 

Livakovic added to his 2nd half save count another four times in the space of five minutes as he first saved Declan Rice’s long-range effort, made an incredible double save from O’Reilly and then an Anthony Gordon header, and finally the Croatian goalkeeper topped a great Harry Kane shot at the front post. 

Pasalic came closest to scoring for Croatia in the 2nd half, as his side struggled to gain any control in the game, but Pickford made a good save, and then Livakovic was called into action once again, this time reacting quickly off his line to stop a Djed Spence effort. 

Unfortunately for Livakovic, four minutes from full-time, substitute Marcus Rashford got the ball down the left side, cut inside on his man and coolly finished into the bottom far corner to seal a 4-2 for England in their opener and a massive result. 

Ghana 1 - 0 Panama 

The 2nd game of Group L’s openers saw Ghana take on Panama, with both teams knowing that a win would give them a very good chance of finishing 3rd and advancing from the group stages. It was set to be an exciting clash. 

General view inside the stadium before the match

Thomas Mukoya

Carlos Queiroz had his Ghana side set up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with veteran and captain Jordan Ayew leading the line, Kamaldeen Sulemana behind him as a second striker, and star player Antoine Semenyo starting out on the left wing. 

Panama and Thomas Christiansen opted for a 3-4-3 formation, with Jose Cordoba as the central defender of the three center-backs, captain Yoel Barcenas and Carlos Harvey as the central midfield duo, Cecilio Waterman leading the line, with Cristian Martinez and Jose Luis Rodriguez offering the threat down the wings. 

The first half was anything but exciting, unfortunately, with both teams really lacking in quality going forward, and Ghana having no interest in attacking, happy to sit back and soak up pressure. 

Panama's Anibal Godoy looks dejected as he walks alongside referee Glenn Nyberg while Ghana's Kwasi Sibo celebrates after the match

Piroschka Van De Wouw

Panama looked the much better of the two sides and played some really good football at times during the first half, but lacked any real threat when in the final third. Their diagonal long balls to the wings were getting behind the Ghana defense, but they just couldn’t convert from there. 

Cecilio Waterman had the best chance, and only real chance, for both sides in the 2nd minute when his half volley from just inside the box was very well saved by Lawrence Ati Zigi in the Ghanaian goal. Ghana only registered their first shot of the half in the final seconds of stoppage time, a shot that nearly went out for a throw-in, and was also called back for an offside in the build-up. 

Ghana started the 2nd half much better than the first and came close to opening the scoring when Jonas Adjetey had his header saved by Orlando Mosquera, with the ball destined for the bottom corner. 

Cristian Martinez was the Panama player who got close to the opening goal of the game, 60 minutes in, when his shot from the right-hand side of the box just went wide and into the side netting. 

Ghana had a golden chance 65 minutes in when the ball was squared across the box towards Jordan Ayew, but Jiovany Ramos pulled off a phenomenal tackle to stop the ball from getting to it. Panama had a solid chance a few minutes later, but Ramos’ shot from outside the box went wide of the left post. 

Ghana's Caleb Yirenkyi scores their first goal

Thomas Mukoya

Adjetey had a good chance with a header for Ghana from a Jordan Ayew set piece, but his header went wide of the post. Ismael Diaz had a chance with five minutes to go for Panama, but his shot trickled to the Ghana goalkeeper. 

As it looked like the game was heading to a 0-0 draw and Panama would get their first-ever World Cup point, Ghana broke the hearts of every Panama fan in the final minute of the game as they broke through, and the ball was squared across the box to Caleb Yirenki, who won’t have an easier finish in his career to win the game for his nation. 

Panama had a huge chance in the last seconds from a free kick when goalkeeper Mosquera headed the ball down to Ismael Diaz, but Diaz couldn’t get proper contact on the ball, and his header was straight at the keeper. Ghana held on to win 1-0, while Panama left heartbroken, feeling they deserved more. 

Day 7, Group L, Round-up:

Group G’s opening day was the epitome of the duality of football. England vs Croatia turned out to be the game of the tournament so far, but then Ghana vs Panama, aside from Ghana's late-minute winner, was the worst game so far. England finished the day top of the group on goal difference, with Ghana tied on three points in second. Panama is tied with Croatia on 0 points but takes 3rd place above Croatia on goal difference. 

Tomorrow, we go back to where the entire tournament started, with another 4 games that kick-start round 2 of the group stage. Group A action, which I will be bringing you the recaps for once again, sees both pointless teams, Czechia and South Africa, do battle, while game 1 winners Mexico and South Korea face off. Over in Group B, all 4 teams head into the games tied on 1 point each, with an all-European battle between Switzerland and Bosnia, and then co-hosts Canada facing off with 2022 hosts Qatar.