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Brian Sciaretta Soccer Analyst
For over 90 minutes, Ghana and Panama appeared to be heading to a dull scoreless draw. But deep into stoppage time, Caleb Yirenkyi got on the end of a brilliant counterattack led by Brandon Thomas-Asante to find a dramatic winner and give Ghana life in its hopes of advancing out of a very difficult group.
The game was a tale of two halves and Panama was the better team in the first half. But the second half was a different story and Ghana’s winner was building and ultimately deserved.
Panama's path to advancing is now mission impossible. Panama needed a win in this game and now with England and Croatia as the remaining two games, getting a win is unlikely.
As for Ghana, this win puts them in a good position given eight of 12 third place teams advance. A draw against England or Croatia would be a very impressive result. But if that doesn’t happen, Ghana needs to also pay attention to the goal differential tiebreaker.
Here are my takeaways from the game:
Rough First Half
Both teams in this game struggled to find ways to attack in this game. It was not until the 48th minute when Ghana was able to test Panama keeper Orlando Mosquera with a shot on target.
For Panama, the team struggled to get long-time forward Cecilio Waterman, 35, into the game. Despite Panama having nice stretches of possession, Waterman was held to just 13 touches before he was removed.
The rain conditions might have played a part in this, but the likely answer is that both teams were simply too tentative and lost in the moment. Ghana was particularly disappointing at the start with a lack of intensity and ideas. Ghana did not have a shot in this game until the second half.
Thomas-Asante And Subs Changed Everything
(Photo by Ezra Shaw – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
The game began to see a lot more chances as the second half progressed. The pace picked up significantly. There was likely a growing sense of urgency knowing that each of these teams still had to play England and Croatia in the coming days.
But the substitutes were the difference. Brandon Thomas-Asante, Abdul Fatawu, and Benjamin Asare all impressed when they came off the bench for Ghana in the 58th minute and improved the cohesion in the attacking third. After the second half hydration break, Ghana was on the front foot, and the team found significantly better opportunities moving into space from wide areas.
Thomas-Asante was the most dangerous player on the field after he came on. With him on the field, Ghana’s counter attacks became more effective and more dangerous. Thomas-Asante is coming off a great season when he scored 13 goals and added four assists over just 1864 minutes when he helped Coventry to promotion to the Premier League.
Established Coach vs. New Coach
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
One of the main storylines coming into this game was that one team had a well-established coach who has been building his team for years. The other coach was an emergency hire less than three months ago and had very little time to prepare his team for such a tournament.
Ghana’s federation lost confidence in head coach Otto Addo at the end of March after a very poor run of form that included failing to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations followed by ugly defeats in March friendly to Germany and Austria.
That resulted in the hire of Carlos Queiroz at the beginning of April to try to build cohesion. Queiroz is a highly respected head coach who is now leading a team in his fifth World Cup.
In the early parts of this game, that seemed to be a huge concern as Ghana was disjoined and a step behind Panama. On paper, Ghana has more talent than Panama with several players in the top leagues in Europe.
But Queiroz is highly respected for a reason, and he deserves credit for handling the challenges of this short-term job. His priority when he was hired was to tighten the team’s leaky defense. That is likely why many quality attackers were left on the bench to start this game. But as poor as Ghana was in the first half, the team was able to limit Panama’s chances and stay in the game.
Ghana vs Panama Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™
Once the game settled down in the second half, Queiroz was able to bring in the offensive subs to go for the win. Ultimately, that was a winning strategy even if it was ugly for long stretches.
On the flip side, Panama has been with Danish head coach Thomas Christiansen since 2020 and has developed a real identity with his team, that includes impressive wins over the United States at the 2024 Copa América and the 2025 CONCACAF Nations League.
From the beginning of the game, Panama looked more prepared and comfortable in the way it wanted to play. But Christiansen’s approach will be the subject of criticism. Panama’s 2026 World Cup squad has the oldest average age, 30.4 years, among all 48 teams in this tournament. There are no players under the age of 24 on the team.
Just as there are risks with constantly changing teams, there are also risks in keeping teams together too long. Performances can get stale and predictable without gradually introducing new talent.
When Panama was not able to capitalize after being the better team in the first half, it seemed out of ideas.
Benching The Captain
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Christiansen made a pair of bold decisions in his starting lineup. In the middle of the field, he did not start established veterans including captain Aníbal Godoy, 36, and Adalberto Carrasquilla, 26, who plays for Pumas. Instead, he went with Carlos Harvey and Yoel Bárcenas to try to overload the middle and attack up the middle.
The decision to drop established players ahead of the World Cup is not one of confidence. Godoy has 159 caps and has been part of the team’s wave of accomplishments in recent years. He came into the game late in the second half has Ghana was pushing and Christiansen was trying to stabilize the game.
But captains are usually there to supply leadership and confidence to the team. If Godoy was not going to start, he might have been better involved in the game earlier as Ghana was starting to raise its level.
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FIFA Men's World Cup WC – Ghana vs. Panama – 06/17/2026 
Brian Sciaretta
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