Budimir gives Croatia a 1-0 win to eliminate Panama from the World Cup

Croatia are third in Group L, with England and Ghana on four points each, heading into the last round of matches.Half-time substitute Ante Budimir scored in the 54th minute as Croatia eliminated Panama from World Cup contention with a tightly fought 1-0 victory at Toronto Stadium.The Group L clash on Tuesday saw 34-year-old Budimir score his first World Cup goal and fifth in a competitive fixture for his country.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Algeria rally late to knock Jordan out of World Cup 2026list 2 of 4Football offers escape for Gaza, but World Cup spirit dimmedlist 3 of 4The weight of the Three Lions: Football, colonialism, diasporalist 4 of 4US says Iran can stay for two days before Egypt World Cup gameend of listCroatia remain third in the group with three points heading into the final match day, but they can guarantee a top-two finish with a victory over Ghana in their final match on Saturday in Philadelphia.Panama are still seeking their first point, five matches into their World Cup history, having also lost 1-0 to Ghana in their 2026 opener in Toronto last week.However, despite playing the first two matches without injured talisman Adalberto Carrasquilla, Los Canaleros have a goal difference six better than at this stage in their first World Cup appearance in 2018.Budimir put Croatia in front on what was easily their best attack of the match to that point on Tuesday.Croatia’s Ante Budimir celebrates scoring their first goal [Kevin Sousa/Reuters]Josip Stanisic combined with Marco Pasalic to get down the right, and then struck a well-weighted cross to the top of the 6-yard box.Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera dived to try and intercept the service but couldn’t reach it, and Budimir showed up at the back post to guide in a composed finish into an open goal.With that, the match erupted for about 15 minutes.Three minutes after the goal, Croatia captain Luka Modric played Pasalic in alone on goal from his own half. Mosquera sized up Pasalic and charged from his line at the right time to smother the initial attempt, and Pasalic fired wide from a poor angle on the rebound.