Luka Modric Reaches 200 Caps as Croatia Defeats Panama
The number on everyone’s lips in Toronto was not the scoreline. It was 200.
On a tight, nervy night, Croatia’s captain stepped into the kind of territory usually reserved for legends cast in bronze. Luka Modric, still dictating games at 40, became only the fourth male footballer to reach 200 senior international caps, joining Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa. An exclusive club, now with a Croatian seat.
There were no fireworks from him, no choreographed lap of honour. That is not Modric. But around him, the occasion crackled.
As the final whistle went, Zlatko Dalic’s players pulled on black T-shirts emblazoned with “Infinite Legacy” and the number 200. It was a simple gesture, yet it said everything: this is not just a captain, but the spine of an era. Dalic did not hide his admiration.
“He is still influencing matches and to play for your country 200 times, that is a lot. We need to be very happy to have him in the team,” the coach said, pointing to the humility that has underpinned Modric’s longevity. “Luka is very humble and this is why he is not for major celebrations. But I am very glad we marked this today in front of our fans.”
The game itself made him work for his landmark.
Panama frustrate, Croatia adjust
Panama arrived with their backs to the wall in Group L but with a plan that almost strangled the life out of Croatia’s evening. Thomas Christiansen set his team in a disciplined 5-4-1, lines tight, distances short, and for 45 minutes the European side looked short of ideas.
Croatia had the ball. Panama had the chances that mattered.
Their best moment came when Jose Luis Rodriguez rose to meet a cross and glanced a header that took a nick off a defender and looped onto the underside of Dominik Livakovic’s bar. For a split second, Croatian hearts stopped. The ball bounced out. So did a warning: this would not be a procession.
Dalic read the problem at the break. His side needed a reference point in the box, someone to pin Panama’s three centre-backs and create room for the runners. On came Ante Budimir, Osasuna’s all-time top scorer, with a simple brief: give Croatia a target and give Panama something to worry about.
The effect was immediate.
Budimir breaks the deadlock
Ten minutes into the second half, the game finally cracked open. Marco Pasalic, who had been drifting between the lines searching for space, produced a flash of invention that changed the night. A clever backheel released Josip Stanisic on the right, the defender surging into space that had rarely existed before the interval.
Stanisic drove a low ball across the face of goal. At the far post, Budimir had peeled away, unnoticed. One calm side-foot later, the ball was in the net and Croatia were alive again.
The goal detonated in the stands. Croatian fans, who had travelled in numbers and suffered through that anxious first half, erupted into song. The tension that had gripped Dalic’s side began to loosen.
The pressure almost yielded a second. Pasalic, suddenly at the heart of everything, broke clear one-on-one with Orlando Mosquera. This was the moment to kill the contest. Mosquera stood tall, blocked the first effort, and Pasalic could only lash the rebound over the bar. A let-off for Panama, and a reminder that Croatia’s margin for error in this tournament remains slim.
Yet the tactical tweak at half-time had done its job. Croatia carried more threat, more presence, and crucially, a lead they would not surrender.
Panama bow out swinging
For Panama, the story of their 2026 journey is cruelly simple: not enough goals. Two games, no points, and now elimination confirmed before they meet England.
That harsh reality did not reflect their effort. Christiansen’s players showed flashes of quality again, especially before the break, and they refused to fold once behind. They kept pushing, kept running, kept believing.
“They played with that hunger, with that dedication, with that spirit. That’s what we wanted of the team. I’m super proud of them,” Christiansen said afterwards. His frustration surfaced in one stark statistic. “They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one.”
The Canaleros forced seven corners, launched wave after wave of attacks in a frantic late spell and made Livakovic work hard to protect Croatia’s slender advantage. The keeper answered with several sharp saves as red shirts poured forward. What they lacked was the cold edge that separates tournament survivors from early departures.
Panama leave with regrets, but not with shame.
Group L blown open
While Modric’s milestone provided the headline, the result ripped Group L wide open.
Earlier in the day, England and Ghana had played out a 0-0 draw, a stalemate that left both on four points. Croatia, beaten by England on the opening day, now sit just behind on three. The margins could not be finer.
The scenarios are brutally clear. Beat Ghana in Philadelphia and Croatia are through to the last 32. Anything less, and they are at the mercy of events elsewhere. England, facing an already-eliminated Panama, need only avoid defeat to progress.
Inside the Croatian camp, the mood has shifted. The anxiety of that England loss has eased, replaced by a sense of purpose. Pasalic captured it neatly.
“We were pretty aware of our quality and the situation that we were in,” he said. “What we didn’t do in the first half, we did in the second half. We’ve been relieved of the burden and now we can move on.”
Move on, yes—but not away from Modric.
As the 2018 finalists turn towards a decisive meeting with Ghana, their captain stands at 200 caps and counting, still bending games to his rhythm, still driving a nation’s hopes. The question now is not how long he can go on, but how far this Croatia, with time’s great defier at its heart, can ride his “Infinite Legacy” through another knockout chase.
