Luka Modric Achieves 200 Caps as Croatia Defeats Panama
On a tight, nervous night in Toronto, the game belonged to one man who has seen just about everything international football can throw at him. Luka Modric, Croatia’s timeless captain, stepped into a club so exclusive it barely needs a door: 200 senior caps, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa.
At 40, he is still the reference point, still the rhythm-setter. Still the one everyone looks for when the ball needs calming or the tempo needs lifting.
Zlatko Dalic knew exactly what the moment meant, even if Modric himself tried to play it down. “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 manager 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 mark it. When the final whistle went, his teammates pulled on black T-shirts emblazoned with “Infinite Legacy” and the number 200. No fireworks, no grand ceremony. Just a quiet, powerful statement that Croatia’s greatest player is still very much part of the present, not just a monument to the past.
A first half in a straitjacket
For all the emotion around Modric, the football itself refused to cooperate early on. Panama arrived with a clear idea and a 5-4-1 that snapped shut around every Croatian attack. Lines tight, distances small, no space between the units. It was disciplined, stubborn, and it worked.
Croatia moved the ball, probed, recycled. The patterns were there but the incision was not. Panama’s back line held firm, their midfield shuffled across as one, and the European side found themselves funneled into harmless areas.
Panama even came closest to scoring before the break. Jose Luis Rodriguez rose to meet a cross and his header took a nick, looping up and onto the underside of Dominik Livakovic’s bar. The goalkeeper was beaten. Croatia were spared by inches.
That moment summed up the half. Croatia carried the ball; Panama carried the threat.
Dalic rolls the dice
Something had to change. Dalic knew it and acted. At half-time he turned to Ante Budimir, the Osasuna all-time top scorer, to give Croatia a focal point in the box. One switch, one clear message: enough of the sterile domination, it was time to attack the penalty area with conviction.
The pressure finally told in the 54th minute.
Marco Pasalic, who had been one of the few Croatian players willing to take risks between the lines, produced a flash of invention. A clever backheel freed Josip Stanisic on the right, and suddenly the angles opened. Stanisic drilled a low cross through the corridor of doubt, and there, ghosting in at the back post, was Budimir.
No panic. No flourish. Just a calm, guided finish into the corner to break the deadlock and, with it, the tension that had gripped Croatia’s campaign.
Toronto erupted. Red-and-white chequered shirts bounced in the stands, flags whipped through the air. A friendly venue turned into a little outpost of Zagreb.
Pasalic’s miss and Panama’s response
The goal changed everything. Croatia, tight and anxious before the break, suddenly played with a lighter touch. Confidence flowed through them and the game almost slipped out of Panama’s reach within minutes.
Pasalic burst clear, one-on-one with Orlando Mosquera, the chance to kill the contest at his feet. Mosquera stood tall, spread himself and blocked the first effort. The rebound sat up invitingly, but Pasalic lashed it over. A golden opportunity gone.
That miss kept Panama alive and they responded with admirable defiance. Thomas Christiansen’s side refused to fold. They pushed higher, threw men forward on set pieces and turned the match into a series of chaotic, breathless exchanges.
They won seven corners, loaded the box and forced Livakovic into several sharp saves during a frantic spell. The Canaleros showed exactly what their coach later described: hunger, dedication, spirit. Everything except the one quality that separates brave exits from famous upsets at this level – clinical finishing.
Christiansen, already out of the tournament but not out of pride, stood by his players. “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. They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one,” he said.
For Panama, the numbers are brutal. Two games, two defeats, no goals. Their 2026 journey ends in the group stage, with only a final assignment against England left to navigate.
Group L blown wide open
Croatia, by contrast, walk away with exactly what they needed: three points and a route back into contention. After the opening-day defeat to England, they could not afford another slip. Dalic’s half-time gamble, Budimir’s finish and Modric’s steadying presence dragged them back into the fight.
Group L now sits on a knife-edge. England’s 0-0 draw with Ghana earlier in the day means both those sides have four points. Croatia lurk just behind on three.
The maths is simple, the stakes anything but. Beat Ghana in Philadelphia and Croatia are in the last 32. Fail to win, and they are at the mercy of events elsewhere, with England needing only to avoid defeat against already-eliminated Panama to go through.
Inside the Croatian camp, the mood has shifted. The anxiety of that first half in Toronto has given way to something more familiar: belief.
“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 to Ghana. Move on to another high-stakes night. Move on with Modric still at the heart of it all, 200 caps deep and still dictating the rhythm of Croatia’s story.
The question now is not whether his legacy is secure. That was settled long ago. The question is how much further this “Infinite Legacy” can carry Croatia in one more World Cup run.
