Ghana will look to take a giant step towards qualifying for the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time when they take on Panama in Toronto tomorrow.
The Black Stars have never gone beyond the group stage in four attempts but looked good in qualifying, cruising to a first-place finish in Group I of the CAF preliminaries.
They have found the going tougher since, however, going winless in six friendly games.
Manchester City winger Antoine Semenyo is their star name and he is determined to give the fans back home something to shout about.
He told FIFA.com: “We’ve got a good management staff, we’ve got good background staff, and everyone is just so positive and confident, and that gives us the positivity to go out on the pitch and do what we need to do and win games. So, it plays a massive part and definitely goes a long way.
“I feel like we’ve got a lot of attacking talent and killer instincts. A lot of players that just want to get in positions and shoot and score. Defensively we’re solid as well.
“We’ve got 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 once we do that, that’ll be the story written. I don’t want to jinx anything but I think, for me personally, getting through the group stage would be a start for us. I feel like we can go on and do special things.”
Panama are 34th in the world rankings, 39 places higher than Ghana and were also impressive in qualifying, topping Group A in the CONCACAF section.
This is their second World Cup appearance and they will hope to do better than in their first when they lost all three games in Russia in 2018.
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Team news for Ghana v Panama
Ghana will be without experienced midfielder Thomas Partey, who was refused entry to Canada.
Panama will be hoping Adalberto Carrasquilla will be fit after missing the warm-up games through injury.
Predicted line-ups for Ghana v Panama
Ghana: Asare; Seidu, Adjetey, Mumin, Mensah; Yirenkyi, Sibo; Fatawu, Owusu, Semenyo; Ayew
Panama: Mosquera; Murillo, Escobar, Cordoba, Davis; Godoy, Martinez, Carrasquilla; Barcenas, Diaz, Fajardo
Where to watch Ghana v Panama: TV and online streams
Ghana versus Panama kicks off at midnight overnight Wednesday into Thursday UK time. You can watch it on ITV1. It can be streamed via the ITVX app.
Stats for Ghana v Panama
- Ghana will make their fifth World Cup appearance — all of them in the 21st century. Their best performance came in 2010, when they reached the quarter-finals in South Africa before being eliminated by Uruguay on penalties.
- Ghana have won only one of their last seven matches at the World Cup (D2 L4), it was against South Korea in the 2022 group stages.
- Ghana have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 10 World Cup matches – their last clean sheet was against Serbia in the 2010 group stages (1-0).
- Jordan Ayew was involved in 14 goals during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers (7 goals, 7 assists), the joint-most in CAF qualification alongside Algeria’s Mohammed Amoura (10 goals, 4 assists).
- Panama are playing in their second World Cup and their first since 2018 in Russia, finishing bottom of Group G, consisting of Belgium and England, who both competed in that edition’s third-place play-off, as well as Tunisia.
- During the 2018 World Cup, Panama conceded more goals than any other side (11), had the second-highest expected goals against per game (2.3) and the fourth-lowest possession percentage (36.3%).
Prediction for Ghana v Panama
This is a huge opportunity for both sides, given the harder tests that await in Group L.
A win would put them on the brink of qualification for the knockout stages and we think Ghana may just nick it.
Prediction: Ghana 2-1 Panama
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