41 min Rodriguez makes a few moves on the ball, then sends a pass skipping out of bounds. Oops.
Ati-Zigi has gone down, which isn’t a good sign. The broadcast feed shows an overhead view as the physios work on Ati-Zigi’s groin. After a few awkward seconds, a director somewhere realizes this isn’t appropriate television and switches to something else.
40 min Ati-Zigi out AGAIN to stop a through ball before the wide-open Murillo can play it, and AGAIN, Panama shoot quickly with the goalkeeper stranded but can’t get the shot on frame.
38 min Ati-Zigi once again has to storm out bravely to punch a ball clear under heavy pressure. The ball lands near Ramos, who tries to shoot quickly with Ghana’s goalkeeper scrambling back to his feet, but the shot is high.
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36 min We’ve seen a couple of replays now of that penalty shout. One angle makes it seem like legal shoulder contact. Another looks like an extended-arm push in the back.
34 min Is that a penalty? Long ball over the top for Martinez, and he seems to have bundled down by a defender. No call.
A few seconds later, another ball floats into the area where Ati-Zigi and a Ghanaian teammate challenge against a Panamanian attacker. Both Ghanaian players are down injured.
33 min ESPN stats show Panama defender Cordoba has already completed 43 passes out of 45 attempts. Impressive, but it also shows how little Panama have managed to move forward in recent minutes.
31 min Nothing comes of the free kick. But the hydration break seems to have altered the momentum, swinging in favor of Ghana.
30 min Panama are being forced to defend now. Yirenkyi falls after modest contact and swims his way to the ball. The late whistle goes against Panama, and Ghana have a dangerous free kick.
29 min Center … passes to wing … back to center … holds it … holds it …
27 min Freshly hydrated, Ghana’s forwards press and force an aimless pass up the field, picked off by their teammates at the back.
The dominant color in the stands is yellow – many Ghanaian fans, many people in ponchos.
23 min Cordoba leaps to win the ball over Ayew, who stays down for a few seconds while Ghana shout for a foul. They may have had a point.
Everybody hydrate!
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22 min Was Colin Robinson, the energy vampire from What We Do in the Shadows, present somewhere in Toronto? The energy has been drained from this match.
20 min Ghana work their way forward and cross. Panama clear for a throw-in, then win the ball shortly thereafter, but Ghana have numbers back already.
19 min Panama have had the better of things, yes, but it has now been quite some time since they broke through in any meaningful way.
16 min Finally, Ghana have a brief spell of possession. They lose it, and Yirenkyi fouls right away before Panama can go the other way. That’s a yellow card.
Ghana are resorting to fouls far more quickly than they should. That could be a problem.
14 min Panama pass around in their own half, then launch the ball forward for Waterman, who’s marked well and can’t get to it.
13 min Ghana finally get the ball and play quickly up the right side for Nuamah, who seems close to turning the corner but can’t. He tumbles to the ground, but there’s no foul.
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12 min Another half-decent chance for Panama, with a cross that skids through the penalty area but misses its target.
12 min Now it’s Panama’s half but at Panama’s feet. Ghana have not yet gotten anything going other than the occasional foul. Like that one.
10 min: Everything has taken place in Ghana’s half of the field for the last several minutes.
8 min A needless Ghanaian foul is waved off because the player who was clobbered was offside when he received the ball. Ouch.
Martinez shows the referee some cleat marks on his arm, a gift from Ati-Zigi.
6 min Panama are looking confident in the attack, both with a short-pass possession game and a long ball that forces Ati-Zigi to fight Martinez for the ball.
4 min Ghana embark on the “blast the ball forward for Semenyo” strategy. In this case, the ball goes too far and bounds out of play.
2 min CHANCE FOR PANAMA – Murillo crosses on the ground to Waterman, whose one-timer is parried by the outstretched Ati-Zigi.
Updated
2 min The referee asks Senaya to use a different ball for the throw-in than the one he planned to use.
1 min Panama pass pointlessly, possession purloined.
Peep!
It’s raining a bit in Toronto as we get started. Current temperature is 20 degrees. That’s Celsius. Canada isn’t that cold.
The kid who picked up the ball as the officials and players walked onto the field gave the camera a little wink. Priceless.
Anthems up shortly. But first, the song that makes all US sports fans of a certain age growl, “At guard, from North … Carolina … 6-6 … Michael Jordan!” Yes, it’s Sirius, by the Alan Parsons Project.
Fun fact: During the Chicago Bulls’ glory days, they often greeted the opposing team with On the Run, an instrumental and experimental track off Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The engineer on that piece was … Alan Parsons.
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Match officials …
The third team on the field (and in a room with TVs) is:
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
AR1: Mahbod Beigi (Sweden)
AR2: Andreas Soderkvist (Sweden)
4th: Khalid Alturais (Saudi Arabia)
Reserve: Mohammed Alabakry (Saudi Arabia)
VAR 1: Bram Van Driessche (Belgium)
Assistant VAR: Marco Di Bello (Italy)
Support VAR: Bastian Dankert (Germany)
Nyberg has worked countless Champions League and internationals with a couple of controversial moments, including a curious event in a Champions League quarterfinal when Arsenal’s Gabriel, believing the match against Bayern Munich had not restarted, picked up the ball in the penalty area. The opposing coach, one Thomas Tuchel, was not amused.
Have you tried Bracketology?
My current picks have France over Spain in one semifinal and Argentina over England in the other. I see France taking it this time.
Panama XI
A stunner in the lineup announcement: Captain Anibal Godoy is not in the XI. I haven’t seen anything about an injury. All told, five of the predicted starters in our team guide are not starting today.
The starting lineup that will face Ghana is: Mosquera; Andrade, Cordoba, Ramos, Blackman; Rodriguez, Martinez, Harvey, Murillo; Waterman, Barcenas (capt.)
While the bulk of Ghana’s roster competes in major European nations, the Panamanian team’s employers are more eclectic.
Four players are based in Mexico. Other countries in the Americas have two each – Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the USA, Venezuela and Panama itself. Other players are in Austria, Azerbaijan, England, Honduras, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Turkey and Uruguay.
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Ghana XI (note injury and visa issue)
Visa issues have hit many teams’ traveling parties as they head toward the USA, but Ghana have a curious case of a player who is welcome in the USA but not in Canada. Midfielder Thomas Partey, a longtime Arsenal player now with Villarreal, was not allowed to cross the border. Court documents show Partey had claimed he was not facing criminal charges in any country, but he is awaiting trial in London over rape and sexual assault allegations.
Mohammed Kudus and Mohammed Salisu are not on the Ghanaian roster due to injury.
The starting lineup that will face Panama is: Ati-Zigi; Mensah, Adjetey, Opoku, Senaya; Yirenkyi, Owusu; Semenyo, Sulemana, Nuamah; Ayew (capt.).
London-born Antoine Semenyo comes into the Cup after a stunning campaign in the Premier League. Jordan Ayew has 34 goals in 120 appearances but has been on a downturn along with his club, Leicester City.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi starts in goal, denying us the chance to see a player from an Irish club – Joseph Anang of St. Patrick’s Athletic.
Three players in the starting XI play for Auxerre – midfielder Elisha Owusu and outside backs Gideon Mensah and Marvin Senaya. A fourth, Ernest Nuamah, also plays in France with Lyon.
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While you wait …
You may be interested to learn that there’s another match in progress at the moment, and it’s quite a sight.
Preamble
You’ll need to excuse US supporters if they shudder a bit at seeing this matchup. Both of these teams have inflicted devastating losses on the US team over the years.
Ghana eliminated the USA in two consecutive World Cups – 2006 and 2010 – before the USA exacted revenge in 2014.
Panama have been the more recent nemesis, featuring heavily in the documentary series US Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team. The Central American side have beaten the USA in four of the last five meaningful matches between the countries – a World Cup qualifier in 2021, a Gold Cup semifinal in 2023, a 2024 Copa America group-stage match, and the 2025 Concacaf Nations League semifinal.
That won’t matter to the home fans here because this game is in Toronto at the smallest venue in this Cup – and that’s after 17,000 temporary seats were added.
On paper, Ghana would have to be the favorite. But ask US fans how it feels to be the favorite against Panama.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, catch up on what you need to know about Ghana and Panama with our team guides.
Ghana’s performance in a warm-up match against Wales in Cardiff gave a sense of what their new coach, Carlos Queiroz, might be up to. The first half was not surprising – a leaky, low block with poorly coordinated pressing that brought back memories of the dysfunctional team Otto Addo had left behind. The second half was markedly different: a well-coordinated mid-block with synchronised pressing and better protection for the full-backs.
Drawn with England, Croatia and Panama in Group L, the Black Stars have enough talent to make an impact in North America. Their best showing so far at a World Cup? The quarter-finals in 2010.
La Marea Roja arrive in full voice. After their historic World Cup debut at Russia 2018, they mean business this time round, and want to progress from the group. With Michael Murillo leading from the back, the midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla providing a creative spark and the captain, Aníbal Godoy, still the heart and soul of the team, Panama are ready to write a new chapter.
The realistic aim is to make it out of the group. Thomas Christiansen will want to prove they have the discipline to avoid a repeat of the 2018 6-1 thrashing by England, who are group opponents once more. A spot in the last 16 is the dream. The dressing room believes it is possible.
