World Cup's '5th eliminated team' emerges; Panama, returning after 8 years, faces early exit with back-to-back losses

*This content was translated by AI.

The fifth team to have its elimination from the group stage of the 2026 FIFA North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF) World Cup confirmed early has emerged. Panama, ranked 34th in the FIFA rankings and making its World Cup finals appearance for the first time in eight years, will now prepare to return home regardless of the outcome of its final group stage match.

On the 24th (Korean time), Panama lost 0-1 to Croatia (FIFA ranking 11th) in the Group L second match of the tournament held at Toronto Stadium in Toronto, Canada.

The match was decided in the second half. In the 9th minute of the second half, Ante Budimir (Osasuna) finished off a cross from Josip Stanisic (Bayern Munich) arriving from the flank in front of the goal.

After conceding the goal, Panama struggled to equalize until the middle of the second half. Jose Fajardo (Universidad Catolica) headed the ball against the post, and Amir Murillo (Besiktas) had his shot blocked by the goalkeeper's save, among other missed opportunities, as they failed to find the net.

Panama launched a full-scale attack by adding more attacking players in the final moments of the second half, but ultimately could not score an equalizer and lost 0-1 to Croatia.

Earlier, Panama had lost 0-1 to Ghana. With this defeat, Panama recorded two consecutive losses and remained in last place in Group L. England and Ghana (both with 4 points) occupy the first and second positions, while Croatia (3 points) is in third place.

Although Panama will face England in its final group stage match, even if it defeats England and ties Croatia on points, it will be eliminated early due to the head-to-head rule.

Among the teams whose elimination has been confirmed during the second round of group stage matches are Haiti (Group C), Turkey (Group D), Tunisia (Group F), Jordan (Group J), and Panama (Group L) — a total of five teams.

Croatia, which reached the semi-finals in the 2018 Russia World Cup as runners-up and finished third in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, will now aim to advance to the Round of 32 in its final group stage match against Ghana.

In this tournament, the top two teams from each group, along with the eight best-performing third-placed teams from the 12th groups, will advance to the 32nd-team knockout stage.

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*This content was translated by AI.