Luka Modric Reaches 200 Caps as Croatia Defeats Panama

Luka Modric has spent a career bending time to his will. In Toronto, he bent history.

On a tight, nervous night, Croatia’s captain became only the fourth male footballer to reach 200 senior international caps, stepping into a club previously reserved for Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa. The number is cold. The occasion was anything but.

As the final whistle went on a 1-0 win that keeps Croatia’s World Cup alive, the tributes to the 40-year-old were telling. Zlatko Dalic, who has built an era around Modric’s rhythm, did not hold back: “He is still influencing matches and to play for your country 200 times, that is a lot. We need to be very happy to have him in the team. Luka is very humble and this is why he is not for major celebrations. But I am very glad we marked this today in front of our fans.”

His teammates did the celebrating for him. Black T-shirts, “Infinite Legacy” printed across the chest and the number 200 beneath, turned the post-match huddle into a moving, if understated, ceremony. Fitting for a player who has never needed fireworks to dominate a stage.

Dalic’s gamble breaks Panama’s grip

For 45 minutes, though, Modric’s milestone looked destined to be framed by frustration. Panama arrived with their World Cup hopes on the line and a clear idea of how to survive: a compact 5-4-1, lines tight, distances short, no space between the cracks for Croatia’s technicians to slip through.

It worked. Croatia’s passing moved, Panama’s block didn’t. Angles closed, crosses cleared, the favourites pushed sideways, not through. The tension in the stands grew with every recycled attack.

Dalic blinked first.

At half-time he turned to Ante Budimir, the Osasuna all-time top scorer, to give Croatia a focal point they sorely lacked. One more body in the box. One more problem for Panama’s centre-backs.

The change altered the feel of the game almost immediately. Croatia began to hit earlier passes into wide areas, runners started arriving closer to the penalty spot, the penalty area no longer an empty frame.

Then, in the 54th minute, the pressure finally told.

Marco Pasalic, drifting into a pocket, produced a deft backheel that sliced Panama’s line open and released Josip Stanisic down the right. The defender didn’t hesitate, drilling a low ball across the face of goal. At the far post, Budimir had stolen half a yard. That was enough. One calm guided finish, and Croatia’s campaign had a pulse again.

The goal detonated in the stands. Croatian fans, who had spent much of the first half chewing on anxiety, erupted in red-and-white noise. Flags, flares, and the familiar Modric song rolling down from the concourses.

Pasalic should have killed the contest soon after. Slipped clean through, one-on-one with Orlando Mosquera, he saw his first effort blocked by the Panama goalkeeper, then lashed the rebound over the bar. A huge chance, wasted. The kind of miss that can haunt a team in tournament football.

This time, it didn’t.

Panama fall, fighting to the last

For Panama, the defeat closes the door on their 2026 story. Thomas Christiansen’s team leave with regrets, but not with shame.

They had their moments. The most agonising came in the first half, when Jose Luis Rodriguez climbed to meet a cross and saw his header glance off a defender, loop over Dominik Livakovic and crash against the underside of the bar. For a heartbeat, Panama thought they had the lead. The ball bounced out, and with it went a sliver of their dream.

Their broader problem has been brutally simple: they cannot score. Across this tournament, the lack of a ruthless edge in front of goal has stalked them, and again here it proved decisive.

Christiansen, though, refused to turn on his players. “They played with that hunger, with that dedication, with that spirit. That’s what we wanted of the team. I’m super proud of them. They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one,” he said, capturing both pride and irritation in one breath.

The numbers underline the effort. Seven corners, waves of late pressure, Livakovic forced into several sharp saves as Panama chased an equaliser with admirable defiance. They stretched Croatia, they unsettled them, they just couldn’t find the finish.

Now they face England in their final group game with nothing to play for but pride and a first point.

Group L blown wide open

Earlier in the day, England and Ghana had played out a goalless draw that kept everything on a knife edge. That stalemate gave both sides four points. Croatia’s win drags them back into the picture on three.

No complicated permutations. No calculators.

If Croatia beat Ghana in Philadelphia, they are in the last 32. If they fail, they invite chaos. England, meanwhile, only need to avoid defeat against already-eliminated Panama to be sure of progressing.

Inside the Croatian camp, the mood has shifted from anxiety to something closer to defiant belief. Pasalic summed it up with refreshing clarity: “We were pretty aware of our quality and the situation that we were in. What we didn’t do in the first half, we did in the second half. We’ve been relieved of the burden and now we can move on.”

Relief, yes. But not relaxation. Not with Ghana waiting.

Croatia know this script. Tournament jeopardy, narrow margins, a veteran midfield genius pulling strings when the air gets thin. They rode it all the way to the final in 2018.

Now, with Modric still dictating, still rewriting the limits of a footballer’s lifespan, the question lingers over Group L and beyond: how many more chapters does he have left in him?