{"id":498337,"date":"2026-06-18T02:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/498337\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:48:09","slug":"ghana-grab-vital-world-cup-victory-over-panama-after-caleb-yirenkyis-last-gasp-goal-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/498337\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana grab vital World Cup victory over Panama after Caleb Yirenkyi\u2019s last-gasp goal | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A late goal from Caleb Yirenkyi gave Ghana a 1-0 win over Panama<\/a> as they joined England at the top of Group L. Yirenkyi steered in Brandon Thomas-Asante\u2019s cross in stoppage time to settle a match of few clear chances.<\/p>\n

Cecilio Waterman forced a good save from the Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi in the second minute as he met a cross from the right, but it was a rare opening in a cagey first half in the Toronto rain.<\/p>\n

Panama had the best of the opening period, Cristian Mart\u00ednez having a penalty appeal waved away as he tried to latch on to a ball over the top and Jiovany Ramos firing high and wide after Ati-Zigi had acrobatically punched into his path.<\/p>\n

Caleb Yirenkyi<\/a><\/p>\n

Manchester City\u2019s Antoine Semenyo moved more centrally as the half wore on, finally making a major impact just before half-time with a through ball which ended with Ghana\u2019s first effort on goal \u2013 Marvin Senaya endangering the corner flag more than the net.<\/p>\n

Ati-Zigi, who received treatment late in the first half, was replaced at the interval by Benjamin Asare and Ghana finally carved an attempt of note, Jonas Adjetey heading straight at Orlando Mosquera.<\/p>\n

Antoine Semenyo rises highest with a header. Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez was unable to steer the ball inside the post at the other end, but Ghana were much brighter after the break with only a last-ditch touch from Ramos preventing Leicester\u2019s Jordan Ayew from sliding home.<\/p>\n

Ramos curled wide from the edge of the box moments later as the game opened up, an offside flag and Mosquera denying Thomas-Asante a late winner before he was released again moments later to deliver the cross for Yirenkyi.<\/p>\n

Describing the defeat as \u201cpainful\u201d, Panama\u2019s head coach, Thomas Christiansen, said: \u201cWe deserved better. We have lessons to learn. At the World Cup<\/a>, mistakes are expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is not the time for regrets. We will not be timid against Croatia. We want to show that Panama is difficult to beat and we will fight until the last breath.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A late goal from Caleb Yirenkyi gave Ghana a 1-0 win over Panama as they joined England at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-498337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}