Panama 0-1 Croatia: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Panama reached half-time level in this match and lost it after the break, which became the shape of their whole tournament. Panama 0-1 Croatia was goalless at the interval and settled by a single goal in the second half — the second time in six days that Panama had been beaten by exactly that margin without scoring.

The first had been 1-0 to Ghana in the opening round. This followed the same script and left Panama on zero points with a match to play, having failed to score in either. Croatia, meanwhile, arrived after a 4-2 defeat to England and needed the three points badly; a narrow win was enough to get them.

The scoreline flatters neither side by much. Croatia finished the group with five goals scored and five conceded, a break-even record for a team that qualified in second place, and four of those five goals came in their other two matches. Panama's final line was the starkest in the tournament: three matches, no points, no goals scored, four conceded. A goalless first half against Croatia was as close as they came to taking anything from anyone, and the group's other three teams all found a way past them eventually.

For Croatia it was the difference between recovery and elimination. Beaten by England in the opening round, they took three points here and three more against Ghana in a 2-1 win, finishing on six — one behind England, two ahead of Ghana. Neither of those margins would have survived a draw in this fixture.

Panama's tournament was effectively over. Zero points from two, no goals, and a final match against a group-leading England side they went on to lose 2-0. They finished bottom of Group L, the only one of the four not to score at all. Ghana, by contrast, took four points and conceded only twice in three matches and still went out third — a group where the margins at the top were made by results exactly like this one.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (Panama or Draw) at 1.42, and it survived into the second half before losing to the only goal of the match.

The angle was that Croatia had just been beaten 4-2 by England and looked defensively vulnerable, and that Panama, beaten only 1-0 by Ghana, could hold the line long enough to take a point. Half of that was right. Panama did keep it goalless to the break, and Croatia scored once all night rather than the four they had shipped. The problem was the other half of the equation. Panama did not score once in this tournament, and a double chance on a side incapable of scoring is a bet on a goalless draw and nothing else. Verdict: lost