FIFA World Cup

Checkered, Mate: Croatia outlasts Ghana 2-1, both advance in World Cup

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The Black Stars already punched their ticket for the knockout stage. The question was if they would be joined by the Checkered Ones. While the full tapestry for the next round is complete, at least we know Group L will be well-represented.

Croatia and Ghana put on a second-half show as evidence that both deserved to move onto the knockout round. While Ghana was able to neutralize Croatia’s first-half lead with a VAR-checked goal in the second half, Croatia recaptured the lead off of a Nikola Vlasic header to win 2-1 at a sold-out Philadelphia Stadium.

The win by Croatia propels them to second place in Group L, but England’s 2-0 win over Panama gives the Three Lions the top spot. Ghana captures a vital third-place finish that sends the Black Stars to the knockout round and officially sends Scotland home.

Ghana came into Saturday’s match knowing they would not be returning home right away. A win by Carlos Queiroz’s squad would assure them either a trip to Atlanta to face a third-place squad or a skip over the border to face the runner-up from Group K in Toronto. Croatia needed a similar result with some help from Panama over England.

While Ghana was assured at least a third-place finish, the Croatian Vatreni needed a win or draw to assure a spot in the knockout round. A loss, coupled with some negative tie-breaker results, would send them back to Europe.

Croatian head coach Zlatko Dalic removed some of the MLS representatives to go with a hot attacking lineup. Petar Musa (FC Dallas) and Marco Pasalic (Orlando City) returned to the bench with Josko Gvardiol.

Petar Sucic, Nikola Vlasic, and Ante Budimir, the goal scorer in the 1-0 win over Panama, took their places in the lineup. The rotation would prove to be advantageous.

Carlos Queiroz gave his Ghana lineup a slight shakeup, starting Derrick Luckassen, who had yet to play a minute, in the back line. Elisha Owusu and Kamaldeen Sulemana returned to the Starting XI after sitting out the entire 0-0 draw against England. Midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi, who scored the lone goal in Ghana’s 1-0 win over Panama, returned to the bench as well.

First Half

With the lead-up to the match featuring a messy pitch from downpours hours earlier, both teams began as if intimidated by the result. Much of Croatia’s first half came from careful buildup play by the experienced midfield. However, play through Ivan Perisic on the far edge was ineffective.

Nikola Vlasic tested goalkeeper Benjamin Asare’s range in the 17th minute, but his slicing shot hit the outside of the far post.

Luka Modric, perhaps in his final match for Croatia, flexed his set-piece ability twice in the next ten minutes. However, Marin Pongracic’s header in the 21st minute and Perisic’s header in the 30th both missed their mark.

Croatia finally dented the scoreboard with a bit of good fortune. Off of a trailing pass from Mateo Kovacic in the 31st minute, Sucic sliced a grounded shot through Luckassen’s legs from distance. Asare could not dive for the shot, making it 1-0 off of the Inter Milan midfielder’s second goal for Croatia.

Ghana seemed reluctant to push a heavy attack in much of the first half. At times it felt the Croatian press was pulled back, daring the Black Stars to advance further.

True to form, Ghana’s best chance to equalize came in the 40th minute. Antoine Semenyo drew two defenders on the edge of the box, managing to nutmeg Pongracic with a right-footed shot. However, the shot missed wide, keeping the score in Croatia’s favor at halftime.

With the possession numbers in Croatia’s favor (54-46), the Vatreni enjoyed pressuring attempts atop the box. Ghana was content to withstand any pressure, perhaps knowing that a third-place finish would keep the Black Stars (and Thomas Partey) within the confines of the United States.

Second Half

The substitution of Abdul Fatawu at halftime immediately supercharged the Ghana offense. The Leicester City winger targeted the upper corner in the 47th minute, serving it high and wide, then almost found Semenyo in front of the goal in the 50th minute.

It took some steady nerves for Ghana to equalize in the 73rd minute. Substitute Ernest Nuamah sent a free kick into the Croatian box that was met by Luckassen’s foot to fire past goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic. However, the assistant referee signaled an offside call to nullify the score for a few minutes.

VAR rechecked the play to indicate that midfielder Kwasi Sibo was offside. However, he was deemed to not be impacting the play, and Luckassen’s goal stood. The Pafos FC defenseman’s first goal for Ghana made it 1-1 with minutes to go.

However, it was the magic foot of Modric that swung momentum the other way. The veteran’s corner kick in the 83rd minute found Vlasic, who directed a header off the far post to make it 2-1. The Torino midfielder’s goal stood the remaining time to push Croatia into the next round.

Speaking with the press, Dalic knew that repeating advancement in consecutive World Cups was nothing to celebrate. “(Advancing) is what we wanted, and it’s not easy to repeat. This national team is really valuable. This is a small step forward to advance, but we need to prepare for the next match to win it as well.”

Queiroz was ambivalent about the goals they gave up. “Croatia scored two goals..two easy goals, but when you score one more than your opponent, you have the merit to win the game. When you make one more mistake than your opponent, there is nothing you can do.

“A draw would have been a fair result, but in football there is nothing about fairness.”

“Before the match, we’ve wanted to win every game,” Luckassen stressed after the match, dismissing the idea that Ghana was not playing at full capacity. “Obviously, we knew we went through, but we want to win every match. That’s what we tried to do.”

Ghana and Croatia had to wait out a 0-0 draw between Colombia (#13 in FIFA rankings) and Portugal (#5) before they could make plans. Ghana will face Colombia in Atlanta, while Portugal faces Croatia in Toronto. Either way, the Ghana squad is likely relieved they won’t lose Thomas Partey to visa restrictions.

2026 FIFA WORLD CUP, Group L, Match #3

Croatia vs. Ghana
Philadelphia Stadium, Philadelphia, PA
Attendance: 68,324
Result: Croatia 2, Ghana 1.

BOX SCORE

Croatia Starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Dominik Livakovic (GK); Josip Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Marin Pongracic, Ivan Perisic; Luka Modric, Mateo Kovasic (Mario Pasalic 78′); Martin Baturina (Marco Pasalic 88′), Petar Sucic, Nikola Vlasic (Josko Gvardiol 88′); Ante Budimir (Igor Matanovic 66′).

Bench: Dominik Kotarski, Ivor Pandur, Duje Caleta-Car, Luka Vuskovic, Martin Erlic, Andrej Kramaric, Kristijan Jakic, Nikola Moro, Toni Fruk, Petar Musa, Luka Sucic.

Ghana Starting XI (4-1-2-3):

Benjamin Asare (GK); Marvin Senaya, Jonas Adjetey (Kojo Peprah Oppong 46′), Derrick Luckassen, Gideon Mensah; Kwasi Sibo (Caleb Yirenkyi 85′); Thomas Partey, Elisha Owusu (Abdul Fatawu 46′); Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ernest Nuamah 71′), Jordan Ayew (C) (Brandon Thomas-Asante 71′), Antoine Semenyo.

Bench: Joseph Anang, Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Abdul Mumin, Alidu Seidu, Christopher Bonsu Baah, Augustine Boakye, Prince Adu, Abdul Rahman Baba, Jerome Opoku, Inaki Williams.

Scoring summary:

CRO – Petar Sucic 31’ (M. Kovacic)
GHA – Derrick Luckassen 73’ (E. Nuamah)
CRO – Nikola Vlasic 83’ (L. Modric)

Discipline:

YC – Ivan Perisic 68’ (CRO, foul)
YC – Kojo Peprah Oppong 90+5’ (GHA, foul)

Next Match:

Ghana: vs. Colombia, 12 pm, Friday, July 3rd, Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City, MO

Croatia: vs. Portugal, 7 pm, Thursday, July 2nd, Toronto Stadium, Toronto, Canada

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