{"id":33828,"date":"2026-06-24T08:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=33828"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:38:18","slug":"budimir-strike-sends-panama-out-keeps-croatia-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/budimir-strike-sends-panama-out-keeps-croatia-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Budimir Strike Sends Panama Out, Keeps Croatia Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TORONTO (FN) \u2014 Croatia kept their World Cup hopes alive with a narrow 1-0 victory over Panama on Tuesday, a result that eliminated the Central Americans from contention and marked Luka Modric\u2019s 200th international appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ante Budimir\u2019s 54th-minute strike proved decisive in a match where Panama battled hard but failed to find the net, extending their goalless streak at the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panama coach Thomas Christiansen, born in Denmark, said he was \u201csuper proud\u201d of his players despite the defeat. \u201cYou cannot win a match if you don\u2019t score,\u201d he told reporters, adding that the team had taken strides forward in their second ever World Cup appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croatia, semifinalists in 2018 and 2022, were looking to recover after a 4-2 loss to England in their opening Group L game. Modric, 40, received a standing ovation from the 43,000-strong crowd in Toronto when substituted late in the match, and was lifted by teammates after the final whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Panama nearly shocked the Croatians in the first half when Jose Luis Rodriguez\u2019s header was tipped onto the bar by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic. Croatia responded after halftime, with Budimir tapping in Josip Stanisic\u2019s cross. Marco Pasalic missed a chance to double the lead minutes later, denied by Panama keeper Orlando Mosquera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panama will face England in their final group match Friday, while Croatia, now on three points, meet Ghana in a decisive clash for a place in the last 32. Ghana moved to four points earlier in the day after holding England to a goalless draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic praised Modric\u2019s humility in reaching his milestone. \u201cIt could be that Luka might want to avoid all this,\u201d Dalic said, acknowledging the midfielder\u2019s discomfort with adulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result underscores Croatia\u2019s resilience in tournament play and highlights Panama\u2019s progress despite elimination, as the team continues to build experience on football\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO (FN) \u2014 Croatia kept their World Cup hopes alive with a narrow 1-0 victory over Panama on Tuesday, a result that eliminated the Central Americans from contention and marked Luka Modric\u2019s 200th international appearance. Ante Budimir\u2019s 54th-minute strike proved decisive in a match where Panama battled hard but failed to find the net, extending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":33829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,5,7],"tags":[20075,20074,20081,20076,20077,20079,20080,20078],"class_list":["post-33828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-international","category-sports","tag-ante-budimir-goal-croatia","tag-croatia-vs-panama-world-cup-2026","tag-dominik-livakovic-croatia-goalkeeper","tag-luka-modric-200th-international-cap","tag-panama-eliminated-world-cup-2026","tag-thomas-christiansen-panama-coach","tag-world-cup-group-l-standings","tag-zlatko-dalic-croatia-coach"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AFP__20260624__B83T8AZ__v2__MidRes__TopshotFblWc2026Match46PanCro_1782284352.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33831,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33828\/revisions\/33831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}