Croatia beat Panama 1-0 as Modric reaches 200 caps

Croatia secured their first points of the 2026 World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Panama at the Toronto Stadium, keeping Zlatko Dalic's side in the hunt for the knockout stages while ending Panama's tournament hopes with a game to spare. The spotlight belonged to captain Luka Modric, who became only the fourth male player in history to reach 200 senior international appearances.

Dalic introduced Ante Budimir at the interval and the move paid dividends in the 54th minute: Marco Pasalic's clever backheel to Josip Stanisic led to a low cross that found Budimir at the back post, and the Osasuna all-time top scorer calmly guided the ball home.

Pasalic was later played through one-on-one but was denied by Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera before seeing his rebound cleared over the bar. Panama's defeat ends their 2026 journey; they will face England with zero points from two games after showing flashes of quality, including a Jose Luis Rodriguez header that was deflected onto the underside of the bar by Dominik Livakovic.

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