After contrasting defeats in their opening matches, Panama and Croatia will look to get things going when they meet in Toronto. While Panama had the best of Ghana for the vast majority of their match before succumbing to a late, late Caleb Yirenkyi goal, Croatia were blown away by a sensational England performance in the second half as they lost 2-4. Panama will now look to build on the positives of that first match, while the more favoured Croatia will want to banish the memory of their opener.
Here's everything you need to know about the match:
How to watch:
The match will be available on BBC One in the UK, Fox in the U.S., Zee5 in India and SBS in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: Tuesday, June 23, 7.00 p.m.
UK BST: Wednesday, June 24, 12.00 a.m.
India IST: Wednesday, June 24, 4.30 a.m.
Australia AEST: Wednesday, June 24, 9.00 a.m.
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto
Referee: Pierre Atcho (Gabon)
PREDICTED LINEUPS
Panama
Orlando Mosquera
Andrés Andrade | José Córdoba | Jiovany Ramos
César Blackman | Yoel Bárcenas | Carlos Harvey | Amir Murillo
José Luis Rodríguez | Cecilio Waterman | Cristian Martínez
Croatia
Dominik Livakovic
Josip Sutalo | Luka Vuskovic | Josko Gvardiol
Josip Stanisic | Mario Pasalic | Luka Modric | Ivan Perisic
Martin Baturina | Petar Sucic
Petar Musa
Talking Points
Can Panama take their chances?
If anyone expected Panama to be the whipping boys of the group, as they have been in tournaments before, they weren't paying attention to the buildup to the 2026 World Cup. Those naysayers were quickly dissuaded of that notion when Panama took the game to the more favoured Ghana in their opener, romping down the wings, dominating possession (62%), taking more shots (11 vs 7), having more touches in the opposition box (19 vs 14), creating more big chances (2 vs 1) and making more accurate passes (503 vs 292). All that good work was undone, though, by their inability to convert domination to chances and chances to goals and paid for it when a rapid 95th minute counterattack was converted by Ghana.
Against even more heavily favoured Croatia, they will look to continue the good work on the ball but do it while introducing a cutting edge to their game.
Can Luka Modric impose himself on the game?
Croatia stood toe-to-toe with England in the first half of their opener, as you'd expect from a team that's reached the semifinal and final of the last two World Cups, before the years-in-legs of some of their key players told. As England ratcheted up the intensity with attacking subs and increased tempo, Croatia's midfield were taken apart and that will be a big cause of concern for Zlatko Dalic. The great Luka Modric, 40, now barely lasted an hour and cut a tired figure for most of it. While Martin Baturina of Como and Petar Sucic of Inter Milan impressed with their attacking play, you could sense that Croatia missed the tempo setting genius of Modric at his best.
Croatia will expect to have more of the ball against Panama than they did vs England (48% possession in that one), and if they are to make the most of it, Modric has to come to the fore and impose himself like he's done on so many occasions for nation and club.