World Cup: Caleb Yirenkyi's late goal lifts Ghana past Panama

Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi (3) and Ghana’s Brandon Thomas-Asante (10) celebrate their win over Panama during 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 a night of missed chances, it worked.

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Caleb Yirenkyi tapped in a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, and Ghana beat Panama 1-0 on Wednesday night in 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 field to embrace both players.

“Get the ball to the wings, and then put it in the box, and we get runs — people in the box to finish,” said the 20-year-old Yirenkyi, who scored his first international goal earlier this month in a friendly against Wales. “I tried (to) just play forward and run forward, and then hope to see what comes in, and yeah, I got the ball in the box and finished.”

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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 during 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 only shot on goal in the first half came two minutes in, when Panama forward Cecilio Waterman latched onto a low cross from Amir Murillo and clipped a ball from the center of the box toward the net. Lawrence Ati-Zigi dove to his right and palmed the ball away.

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The goalkeeper left the game at halftime after a couple of hard collisions. He was replaced by Benjamin Asare. Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said Ati-Zigi would be evaluated further on Thursday.

The result puts Ghana at the top of Group L with England, which beat Croatia 4-2 earlier in the day.

After the first hour, when chances came at a premium at rainy BMO Field, the match opened up and both teams started smashing shots toward the net.

In the 65th 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 prevent the tap-in.

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“Panama, they had a great first half. They kept the ball really well and we struggled with the press,” said Antoine Semenyo, who started 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.”