06/23/26 09:58:00
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06/23 21:56 CDT Croatia stays alive for World Cup knockout round and eliminates
Panama with 1-0 win
Croatia stays alive for World Cup knockout round and eliminates Panama with 1-0
win
By LEXIE LINDERMAN
Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) --- There wasn't much open space in Panama's back line as it tried
to keep its World Cup hopes alive.
But just four minutes after Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic subbed on an extra
forward in the second half, Josip Stanisic validated his coach's decision,
finding some room on the right and making his move.
Stanisic lifted an exceptional curving cross onto the boot of Ante Budimir, who
tapped it into an open net in the 54th minute, lifting Croatia to a 1-0 win on
Tuesday night.
Croatia remains in contention for the knockout round ahead of its third and
final group-stage match against Ghana on Saturday. Panama was eliminated and is
still seeking its first World Cup point in two appearances.
"This was very difficult and I didn't expect that it was going to be such a
difficult match, to be honest," Dalic said. "We didn't react the best, and
perhaps it could be due to the pressure because we really needed these three
points."
Three minutes after Budimir scored, the Vatreni nearly added another goal when
40-year-old Luka Modric --- making his 200th international appearance ---
passed ahead to Marco Pasalic on a breakaway, but Panama goalkeeper Orlando
Mosquera blocked Pasalic's shot.
"I was quite surprised by the quality (of Panama)," Dalic said.
Modric, the 2018 Ballon d'Or winner as the best player in Europe, has led
Croatia to World Cup finishes of runner-up (2018) and third place (2022). He
got a postgame tribute from his teammates after his milestone cap.
Croatia players donned black T-shirts that bore Modric's image and read "200"
in gold, with the zeros linked to resemble the mathematical symbol for
infinity. They took a lap around the pitch together.
"Everybody knows what he means to us," defender Marin Pongracic said. "He's our
captain, he's our leader, and he's the biggest legend of Croatian football, and
we are witnessing him, and just him as a person, how humble he is. What a
mindset, what a mentality."
Panama had three straight chances in the 67th minute to knot things up, after
Cristian Martinez slid to keep the ball in play in the corner. Croatia
goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic then made a trio of dazzling saves; on the third,
he just managed to get a hand on the ball and send it over the net.
"These are the kind of matches where you get the feeling that you're
dominating, that you might score a goal," Martinez said. "But then they have
one chance and they score. These aren't teams that need much to score a goal."
Group L will be decided on Saturday, with England and Ghana tied at four points
and Croatia with three. England will face Los Canaleros in East Rutherford, New
Jersey, while Ghana and Croatia will play in Philadelphia.
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Lexie Linderman is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at
Penn State.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
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