Key Points
- Caleb Yirenkyi scored in the 90'+5' minute to beat Panama 1-0
- Brandon Thomas-Asante set it up with a cross from the left
- Ghana played without Thomas Partey, denied entry to Canada
- The win puts Ghana atop Group L alongside England on three points
Ghana waited 95 minutes to win its World Cup opener, and then needed only one. Caleb Yirenkyi knocked in the winner in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time on Wednesday at BMO Field in Toronto, and the Black Stars walked off with a 1-0 result over Panama and the early lead in Group L.
How it happened
For an hour it was the kind of opener that gives favorites nightmares. Panama sat deep, Ghana labored, and the only real first-half chance fell to Panama's Cecilio Waterman. The game cracked open late: Brandon Thomas-Asante broke free down the left, dragged the ball across the goalmouth, and Yirenkyi was there to finish it in the 95th minute — the kind of goal that turns a nervy 0-0 into three points and a clean sheet in a single motion.
The Partey absence
Ghana did it without Thomas Partey, its most accomplished midfielder, who was denied entry to Canada pending legal proceedings in England. Losing your engine before a World Cup opener is the sort of disruption that sinks a campaign before it starts; instead, Ghana reshuffled, leaned on its attack, and found a way through. There was also a goalkeeping wrinkle — Lawrence Ati-Zigi made an early save but was replaced at halftime by Benjamin Asare after a collision, and the change held up.
What it means for the group
The result lifts Ghana to the top of Group L on three points, level with England, who put four past Croatia 4-2 earlier in the day. For a Ghanaian side that arrived as one of Africa's standard-bearers — and whose kit was named the tournament's best before a ball was kicked — opening with a win, even an ugly one, is exactly the start the moment demanded. Panama, beaten by a goal in the last seconds, are left to chase points the rest of the way.
The read
Tournament football rewards the teams that win the games they're supposed to win and survive the ones they nearly don't. Ghana just did both in 90-plus minutes. A 1-0 on a stoppage-time goal is not a statement of dominance, but it is a statement of nerve — and for a program that has spent the last decade flattering to deceive on the biggest stage, banking three points from a match that was drifting toward a draw is the more valuable currency. The style can come later. In a World Cup, the result is the only thing that compounds. This opening win proved the launching point for a run that carried Ghana into the knockout bracket, where the campaign ended when Carlos Queiroz confirmed his exit after a Round of 32 loss to Colombia. Ghana's next competitive stage is the continental one: the Black Stars will next compete at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, now scheduled for June 19 to July 17, 2027 across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Source: ESPN, FOX Sports
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