Luka Modric Celebrates 200 Caps as Croatia Revives 2026 Hopes
On a tight, anxious night in Toronto, the football kept drifting back to the same pair of boots. At 40 years of age, Luka Modric walked out for his 200th cap and refused to let the occasion pass as a mere statistic. He turned it into a landmark Croatia might look back on as the moment their World Cup tilted back in their favour.
Only three men had gone there before him: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Bader al-Mutawa. Now Modric stands alongside them, a metronome in red and white, still dictating tempo while others his age are long since retired or working behind microphones.
Zlatko Dalic did not hide what it meant.
“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 Croatia coach said afterwards. “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.”
They did more than mark it. When the final whistle went, Modric’s team-mates pulled on black T-shirts emblazoned with “Infinite Legacy” and the number 200. It was a rare public nod to a player who has never sought a spotlight he so clearly owns.
Panama’s plan, Croatia’s problem
For 45 minutes, though, the night threatened to sour.
Panama arrived with their World Cup hopes on the line and a 5-4-1 shape that squeezed the life out of Croatia’s attack. Lines stayed tight, distances short, and every Croatian touch between the lines met a red shirt and a body check. Modric probed, angled passes into the channels, tried to speed the game up. The gaps refused to open.
Thomas Christiansen’s side did more than defend. They carried a threat. The best chance of the half fell to Jose Luis Rodriguez, his header glancing off a defender, looping over Dominik Livakovic and kissing the underside of the bar before bouncing away. For a few seconds, Croatian hearts stopped.
Croatia, beaten by England on the opening day, looked stuck in a familiar story: possession, patience, no punch.
Dalic rolls the dice
Dalic changed the script at the break.
On came Ante Budimir, the Osasuna all-time top scorer, to give Croatia a focal point they had sorely lacked. One more body in the box, one more problem for Panama’s centre-backs to solve.
The impact was swift. In the 54th minute, the move they had been searching for finally snapped into life. Marco Pasalic, now finding pockets of space, produced a deft backheel to release Josip Stanisic on the right. Stanisic drilled a low ball across the face of goal. At the back post, Budimir arrived, side-footing calmly into the net.
The finish was simple. The release was anything but.
Croatian supporters, who had turned this corner of Toronto into a pocket of Zagreb, erupted. Flags snapped, flares crackled, and for the first time in this tournament, Croatia looked like themselves again.
The goal flipped the mood on the pitch as well. Panama, forced to chase, stretched. Croatia began to find lanes they had been denied all night.
Pasalic should have killed the contest soon after. Slipped clean through, he went eye to eye with Orlando Mosquera. The Panama goalkeeper stood tall, beat away the first effort, and watched in relief as Pasalic lashed the rebound over the bar. A huge chance gone. A warning that the job was not done.
Still, Dalic’s half-time gamble had worked. Croatia had the lead, the initiative, and something they had been missing since that defeat to England: belief.
Panama fight to the end
For Panama, this was the end of the road.
Two games, two defeats, no goals. The margins were cruel, the performances anything but meek. Christiansen’s men kept coming, refusing to accept the script of an early exit.
They finished with seven corners and a barrage of late pressure. Crosses rained in, second balls bounced dangerously, and Livakovic had to produce several sharp saves as the match descended into a frantic, stretched finale. Yet again, though, the final touch deserted them.
Christiansen could only cling to the positives.
“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,” he said. “They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one.”
His frustration was obvious between the lines. Panama had flashes of quality, especially in that first half. They had the woodwork, the territory, the energy. What they did not have was the cold, ruthless edge that defines tournament football.
Now they head towards a final group game against England with zero points and no chance of reaching the last 32, left to play for pride against a side still navigating their own path.
Group L blows wide open
The earlier 0-0 draw between England and Ghana means Group L now crackles with possibility.
England and Ghana sit on four points apiece. Croatia, suddenly alive again, are right behind them on three. The maths is simple, the stakes anything but.
Beat Ghana in Philadelphia and Croatia are through. Anything less, and the calculators come out. England, by contrast, only need to avoid defeat against already-eliminated Panama to book their place in the knockout rounds.
Inside the Croatian camp, the tone has shifted. The tension of the first half in Toronto has given way to a sense of momentum, of a team that has stared down early trouble and found a way to respond.
“We were pretty aware of our quality and the situation that we were in,” Pasalic admitted. “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 forget.
On a night that could have deepened a crisis, Croatia instead clung to their old compass. Modric, still gliding, still pointing, still demanding. Two hundred caps behind him, at least one more defining group game ahead.
The 2018 finalists have not come to North America to be a footnote. With their captain defying time and the group now within reach, the question lingers over Philadelphia: who really wants to face Croatia with everything on the line?
