Ghana and Panama kick off their World Cup campaigns tomorrow night (Thursday night European time) – a win here would give them a great opportunity to reach the playoffs
Ghana will take a giant step towards qualifying for the World Cup playoffs for the first time when they face Panama in Toronto tomorrow.
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The Black Stars have never progressed from the group stage in four attempts, but impressed in the qualifiers where they cruised to a first place in Group I in the preliminary round of the CAFE.
Since then, however, it has been heavier, with six straight friendlies without a win.
The star striker promises to give the home fans something to cheer about
Manchester City winger Antoine Semenyo is the team’s big star, and he is determined to give the fans at home something to really cheer about.
He stated to FIFA.com:
“We have a good management system, we have good support systems, and everyone is just so positive and confident. It gives us the belief to go out on the pitch and do what it takes to win games. So it plays a big role and means a lot.
“I feel that we have a lot of attacking talent and deadly instinct. Many players who just want to get in position to shoot and score. Defensively, we are also solid.
“We have such a good team, and we just need to prove to the world that we can be up there and compete with everyone else. I feel like that’s the only question right now, so when we get that done, history will be written. I don’t want to jinx anything, but personally I think advancing from the group stage will be a start for us. I feel that we can move on and do very special things.
Panama are 34th in the world rankings – 39 places higher than Ghana – and also impressed in qualifying when they topped Group A in the CONCACAF round.
This is their second World Cup participation, and they hope to do better than in their first attempt, when they lost all three games in Russia in 2018.
Ghana vs. Panama Team Updates
Ghana will have to do without experienced midfielder Thomas Partey, who was denied entry to Canada.
Panama hopes that Adalberto Carrasquilla will be fit for action after missing the pre-season games due to injury.
Predicted Ghana vs. Panama line-ups
Ghana: Aesar; Seidu, Adjetey, Moomin, Mensah; Yirenkyi, Sibo; Fatawu, Owusu, Semenyo; Ayew
Panama: Mosquera; Murillo, Escobar, Cordoba, Davis; Godoy, Martinez, Carrasquilla; Barcenas, Diaz, Fajardo
Ghana vs Panama stats
- Ghana is participating in its fifth World Cup – all of them in the 21st century. Their best performance came in 2010, when they reached the quarter-finals in South Africa before being knocked out by Uruguay on penalties.
- Ghana have won just one of their last seven World Cup matches (U2 T4) – the victory came against South Korea in the 2022 group stage.
- Ghana have conceded at least one goal in each of their last ten World Cup matches – their last clean sheet was against Serbia in the group stage in 2010 (1-0).
- Jordan Ayew was involved in 14 goals during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers (7 goals, 7 assists), which was the most in the CAF qualifiers alongside Algeria’s Mohammed Amoura (10 goals, 4 assists).
- Panama are playing in their second World Cup and their first since 2018 in Russia, where they finished last in Group G with Belgium and England – both of whom played in the bronze final of that championship – as well as Tunisia.
- At the 2018 World Cup, Panama conceded more goals than any other team (11), had the second-highest expected goals against per game (2.3) and the fourth-lowest possession (36.3%).
Betting for Ghana vs. Panama
This is a huge opportunity for both teams, considering the tougher tests that await in Group L.
A win will put them on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs, and we think Ghana can just manage to snatch it.
Betting: Ghana 2-1 Panama
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