England get revenge on Croatia 4-2 and Ghana steal victory from Panama

England avenged their 2018 World Cup semi-final loss to Croatia by beating them 4-2 on Wednesday in a thrilling match at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, in Group 12 of the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

England star Harry Kane was the standout with two goals (12 from the penalty spot and 42), while Jude Bellingham added a third (47) and substitute Marcus Rashford (85), while Croatia's Martin Baturina (36) and Petar Musa (45+5) scored for Croatia.

Croatia suffered their first loss in the group stage after four wins and two draws, in a group where Ghana will meet Panama later.

In the presence of more than 70,000 fans, dominated by the English and the people of Dallas, who welcomed the player of Dallas FC FC at his stadium, the Croatian Petar Moussa, entered the "Three Lions" team having lost only one of the last eight games in the history of its participation in the World Cup (4 wins and 3 draws).

Just nine minutes later, veteran Luka Modric made a mistake in the box on Noni Madueke, and the referee awarded a penalty to Kane, who shot to the left of the goal, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic (11).

The Croatians' joy was not complete when French referee Clement Turpin asked for a re-execution of the kick due to Livakovic's exit before the shot, which Kane took advantage of with a shot on the same side while the Croatian goalkeeper threw to the right (12).

Baturina equalised with a beautiful shot from the edge of the area after a pass from Petar Sucic (37), but an unattended Kane restored the Three Lions' lead with a header from a Declan Rice corner (42).

Mario Bašalić tried his luck with a long-range shot over goal (45+3), but Moussa refused to let his team into the dressing room late, scoring the equalizer with a shot on the fly after a ball played by Ivan Perisic reached him following a pass over the defenders from Pašalić (45+5).

At the start of the second half, the English gave their opponents no chance to apply what coach Zlatko Dalić had asked for, scoring the third through Jude Bellingham after a start on the right flank taking advantage of a long pass from Elliot Anderson (47).

Bellingham almost scored the fourth straight with a close-range shot that Livakovic saved for a corner, which Nico O'Reilly could have scored after executing it with a header that went past the left post (49).

Livakovic saved his fourth goal three times in two minutes, in front of O'Reilly, Anthony Gordon and Kane (56 and 57).

Livakovic continued his brilliance and kept Croatia in the air by saving substitute Jed Spence's shot (82), but finally gave in to substitute Rashford, who received the ball from another substitute, Saka, evaded Josip Stanišić and put the ball creeping into the net (85).

Ghana snatches victory from Panama in deadly time

Ghana won a deadly victory over Panama on Thursday in the first round of the 2026 World Cup.

Despite several attempts throughout the two halves of the match, the goals were absent until the fifth minute of stoppage time, when Caleb Jerenke scored the winning goal, which gave his country a big boost to compete for one of the two direct qualification cards from this group.

The match, which was held at the Toronto Stadium, is back for Group 12, which saw England beat Croatia 4-2.

Thus, the Ghana national team obtained its first 3 points in the tournament, to occupy the second place behind England, and  the Ghana national team booked its place in the World Championship for the second time in a row and the fifth in its history.

The Ghanaian national team has struggled recently, failing to win in its last 5 pre-World Cup Tests, losing 4 matches and drawing one.

On the other hand, the Panamanian national team failed to achieve the first point in its participation in the second World Cup after the first in the World Cup in Russia 2018.

In the four matches he has played so far in the World Championship, he has lost 4 matches, scored two goals, and conceded 12 goals

Queiroz reveals the key to Ghana's victory

Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz has praised the resilience and toughness of his players, stressing that they used their "minds" to snatch a dramatic victory with a deadly goal against Panama in the opening round of Group 12 of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup.

The veteran Portuguese coach admitted that his team had to endure long periods of pressure without the ball, before he succeeded in executing his plan in the required way.

Queiroz told ITV: "We fought like warriors, and we won this game with our minds, we had to struggle at the beginning against a great team who know how to play football, and we knew they were going to dominate the game."

"Our plan was to step back step by step and let them advance towards our regions, and that's the perfect way to win such complex games."

Colombia strikes hard in opening World Cup campaign

The Colombian national team started its campaign in the first round of the 2026 World Cup with an important victory over Uzbekistan by a score of 3-1, in the match hosted by the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, to put the Colombian team three valuable points in its balance as the group competitions begin.

After a cautious start from both sides, the first disciplinary note of the match was an early yellow card by Juan Mujica of Colombia at the seventh minute, and then the Uzbek national team responded with a yellow card no. Khosanov at the 34th minute, in an indication of a clear dew in the middle of the field.

  The Colombian national team translated its attacking advantage before the end of the first half, when Diego Muñoz opened the scoring in the 40th minute after an assist from Luis Diaz, to give his team a 1-0 lead as they returned to the dressing rooms, taking advantage of their superior ability to create chances.

With the start of the second half, the Uzbekistan national team made two substitutions at once at once, in the 46th minute, with the entry of Oronov and Nasser Al-Lahev, in an attempt to activate the offensive part and modify the result quickly.

Uzbekistan's move resulted in an equalizer in the 60th minute through A. Vezulayev, to return the match to zero points with a score of 1-1, and the excitement between the two sides increases as each team searches for the points of the full first round.

However, the Colombian response was not long overdue, as in the 65th minute, Luis Diaz scored his country's second goal after a perfect pass from Gabriel Puerta, to put Colombia back in front by 2-1 and confirm his great impact on the attacking side.

After that, the two coaches continued to rely on successive substitutions to change the course of the match, as the Colombian national team brought in James Rodriguez in the 72nd minute, while Uzbekistan responded in the 77th minute with two new substitutions with the departure of A. Vezulayev and the entry of A. Amanov, in addition to the entry of R. Ashurmatov in place of J. Oro Zoff, in a final attempt to turn the data around.

Colombia, for their part, pushed new elements to enhance the lead and settle the result, as Luis Suarez and Karim Hernandez came on in the 80th minute, with Raul Ríos coming on in place of Gabriel Puerta, then the changes continued in stoppage time in the 90+3rd minute with the entry of Luis Diaz, Jose Arias, Alvaro Gomez and Kei Castano, in addition to the substitution of Uzbekistani with the inclusion of I. Shumoroyedov.

In the final moments of the match, the Colombian national team confirmed its attacking advantage with a third goal that fought at the 90+9th minute by Juan Campaz after an assist from Karim Hernandez, to settle the match by a score of 3-1 and ensure a strong start in their group career.

Luis Diaz was named the best player of the match with a rating of 8.3, after directly contributing to two of Colombia's three goals, creating the first goal signed by Diego Munoth, and scoring the second goal that restored the lead for his country at a pivotal moment in the second half.