Caleb Yirenkyi's Late Goal Secures Ghana's World Cup Win Against Panama
Caleb Yirenkyi had been here a thousand times before – just not with the world watching.
Deep into stoppage time, with Ghana staring at a frustrating draw against Panama on June 17, the teenage midfielder burst into the box, met the cut-back, and buried the chance that turned a laboured night into a vital 1-0 FIFA World Cup win.
It looked like instinct. For Yirenkyi, it was rehearsal.
“That’s what we have been practicing since we started our preparation,” he told reporters afterwards, almost matter-of-fact about a move that could yet define Ghana’s group campaign. Win the ball, work it wide, flood the area with runners. Simple on paper, brutal to defend when executed at full tilt.
Ghana had spent much of the evening under pressure, forced back by a Panama side that refused to respect reputations. The Black Stars, widely tipped to cruise through this fixture, instead found themselves scrambling, misplacing passes, and inviting trouble. For long spells, it felt like they were the ones hanging on.
Then came the turnover, deep in stoppage time. Ghana snapped into a press, regained possession and sprang forward. Antoine Semenyo carried the threat, Brandon Thomas-Asante joined in, and Yirenkyi did what modern midfielders are judged on at this level – he arrived, late and lethal.
“When we won the ball back, I tried to just play forward and run for it and then hope to see what comes,” he said. “Then I got the ball in the box and I finished it.”
No fuss. No overcomplication. Just the end product of weeks of repetition.
Queiroz’s fingerprints
Behind the late drama sits the demanding figure of Carlos Queiroz. The new Ghana coach has wasted no time reshaping a young, transitional squad with sessions that test both lungs and concentration.
“That thing is the lessons. He gives us great lessons,” Yirenkyi explained. “We do a lot of training and with a lot of intensity.”
The intensity showed in the 90th minute and beyond. Where Ghana sides of the recent past have sometimes faded, this group kept running, kept pressing, and finally forced the mistake that opened Panama up.
For Yirenkyi, the goal was his second in as many games, continuing a surge that has moved him from promising prospect to central figure in a matter of months. He had already scored against Wales in a pre-World Cup friendly earlier this month. Now he has a World Cup winner to his name.
Not bad for a player who only made his senior debut last year, in a 2-1 defeat to Nigeria at the Unity Cup. That night, he was the kid getting a taste of the level. This summer, he is starting to look like part of the spine.
From Denmark to the world stage
At club level, the FC Nordsjælland midfielder has been building towards this. Thirty league appearances in Denmark, two goals, six assists – not eye-watering numbers, but the kind that tell a coach he can trust you to run a game, not just decorate it.
That reliability has carried into a Ghana side caught between eras. On one side, seasoned internationals approaching the final chapters of their careers. On the other, players like Yirenkyi, impatient and fearless, trying to drag the team into a new cycle.
“We have great support around us,” he said. “The older players help us very much as young players, and we just have to take the information in and then do our best, run for each other and then we hope for the best.”
The blend is still raw. Against Panama, it showed. Ghana invited pressure, struggled to control the tempo, and nearly paid for their own carelessness. Yet when the chance came to claw their way out, they did it together.
“We are just doing what we can do best each and every day,” Yirenkyi said. “Learn from each other, then from the coach, then from the people around us, and then we take it day by day.
“It’s everyone, helping each other out, and then, we all hope for the best, not just on myself, but for everyone, I think.”
That mindset is no small thing at a World Cup, where one bad half can unravel months of preparation. Ghana didn’t play well. They did win. And they did so with a teenager stepping up in the most pressurised moment of the match.
Yirenkyi insists the optimism runs through the squad, not just through him. “I’m very positive, not just me. My teammates, also, we are all just, we have one goal to do our best in this tournament, and I think that’s what we’ve shown.”
On this evidence, Ghana’s new era will not be smooth or serene. It might, however, be led by a 19-year-old who has already learned how to turn training-ground drills into World Cup points.
