Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi (3) and Ghana’s Brandon Thomas-Asante (10) have fun their win over Panama throughout the World Cup Group L soccer match in Toronto, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
TORONT— It was a play Ghana has been practicing throughout its World Cup preparation.
And after an evening of missed probabilities, it worked.
Caleb Yirenkyi tapped in a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante within the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, and Ghana beat Panama 1-0 on Wednesday night within the teams’ World Cup opener.
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Thomas-Asante got loose on the left side and fired the ball across the goal mouth. Yirenkyi knocked it in, sending his teammates streaming onto the sector to embrace each players.
“Get the ball to the wings, after which put it within the box, and we get runs — people within the box to complete,” said the 20-year-old Yirenkyi, who scored his first international goal earlier this month in a friendly against Wales. “I attempted (to) just play forward and run forward, after which hope to see what is available in, and yeah, I got the ball within the box and finished.”
Ghana played without midfielder Thomas Partey, who was denied entry into Canada while he awaits trial on rape charges in England.
Ghana players celebrates their first goal scored by Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi throughout the World Cup Group L soccer match between Ghana and Panama in Toronto, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Balkansky)
The late goal denied Panama its first World Cup point.
The one shot on goal in the primary half got here two minutes in, when Panama forward Cecilio Waterman latched onto a low cross from Amir Murillo and clipped a ball from the middle of the box toward the online. Lawrence Ati-Zigi dove to his right and palmed the ball away.
The goalkeeper left the sport at halftime after a few hard collisions. He was replaced by Benjamin Asare. Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said Ati-Zigi could be evaluated further on Thursday.
The result puts Ghana at the highest of Group L with England, which beat Croatia 4-2 earlier within the day.
After the primary hour, when probabilities got here at a premium at rainy BMO Field, the match opened up and each teams began smashing shots toward the online.
Within the sixty fifth minute, Thomas-Asante broke through Panama’s back line and played a ball along the 6-yard box toward Jordan Ayew, but Jiovany Ramos ran up from behind with a tackle to forestall the tap-in.
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“Panama, they’d an amazing first half. They kept the ball very well and we struggled with the press,” said Antoine Semenyo, who began the scoring play with a pass to Thomas-Asante. But “slowly into the second half we had that energy to go up and press and cause problems, and that led to the winner.”