Luka Modric Reaches 200 Caps as Croatia Beats Panama

The number on Luka Modric’s back has never changed. The number next to his name just did something historic.

On a tight, nervy night in Toronto, Croatia’s captain stepped into the rarest of company, becoming only the fourth male footballer to reach 200 senior international caps. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Bader al-Mutawa – and now Modric. A list that reads like a riddle, answered by longevity and obsession.

There were no fireworks from him. No lap of honour. Just the usual shuffle of shoulders, the familiar scanning of space, the quiet command of a game Croatia absolutely had to win.

A landmark wrapped inside a must-win game

This was not a testimonial in disguise. Croatia came into the match wounded by their opening defeat to England and staring at an early exit if they slipped again. Panama, organised and stubborn in a 5-4-1, treated the occasion like a knife fight, not a guard of honour.

Zlatko Dalic understood the weight of the night, and the man at the heart of it.

“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, his admiration as obvious as his relief. “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, in their own way. At full-time, Modric’s team-mates pulled on black T-shirts emblazoned with “Infinite Legacy” and the number 200, a simple tribute to a player who has come to define an era of Croatian football.

But for 45 minutes, Panama threatened to crash the party.

Panama’s plan, Croatia’s frustration

Thomas Christiansen’s side arrived with nothing to lose and everything to spoil. They sat deep, stayed compact, and turned the first half into a traffic jam. Croatia moved the ball, but too slowly. Panama slid across in their banks of five and four, closing angles, smothering crosses, draining the game of rhythm.

Their threat on the break was real. Jose Luis Rodriguez came closest, his first-half header glancing off a defender and looping onto the underside of Dominik Livakovic’s bar. For a few seconds, the ball seemed to hang over the line, the kind of moment that can tilt a tournament. It dropped the right side for Croatia.

The tension in the Croatian end grew with every sideways pass. Modric kept demanding the ball, kept trying to quicken the tempo, but the spaces he loves to exploit simply weren’t there. By the interval, Dalic had seen enough.

Dalic’s switch and Budimir’s finish

The restart brought a different Croatia. More direct, more bodies in the box, and one key change: Ante Budimir.

The Osasuna all-time top scorer came on to give Croatia a focal point, someone to pin Panama’s centre-backs and attack the six-yard box. The impact arrived in the 54th minute.

The move was sharp and intricate, everything the first half had not been. Marco Pasalic, drifting cleverly between the lines, produced a deft backheel into the path of Josip Stanisic on the right. Stanisic didn’t hesitate. He drove a low ball across the face of goal, the kind of cross that begs for a touch.

Budimir obliged. Ghosting in at the back post, he opened his body and guided the ball home with the calm of a man who has seen this picture many times before. One chance, one clean finish. Deadlock broken, pressure punctured.

The goal detonated in the stands. Croatian supporters, anxious and subdued for most of the evening, roared their team back into the tournament. Red-and-white shirts bounced in the cold Toronto air; the soundtrack shifted from worry to belief.

Chances missed, margins thin

The mood almost turned to comfort minutes later. Released through the middle, Pasalic found himself one-on-one with Orlando Mosquera, the Panama goalkeeper. This time, the composure deserted him. Mosquera spread himself to block the first effort, and Pasalic lashed the rebound over the bar.

It felt like a moment that might linger if the result turned.

Panama refused to fold. Christiansen urged his players higher up the pitch, and the match tilted into a frenetic final phase. The Canaleros racked up seven corners, slinging balls into the Croatian box, forcing Livakovic into a series of sharp interventions. Every set piece carried menace. Every clearance carried a hint of desperation.

They had shown flashes all tournament, but never the finishing touch. That flaw finally ended their 2026 journey.

“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,” Christiansen said. “They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one.” His frustration with the fine margins was obvious, his pride undimmed.

Panama walk towards a final game against England with zero points from two matches, already eliminated but far from embarrassed.

Group L blows wide open

For Croatia, the 1-0 win does more than rescue pride. It drags them back into a Group L that now looks wonderfully tangled.

England’s goalless draw with Ghana earlier in the day means both those sides sit on four points. Croatia lurk just behind on three. The maths is simple; the reality will be anything but.

Beat Ghana in Philadelphia and Croatia are in the last 32. Anything less, and they start doing sums and hoping Panama can trouble England in their farewell. England, for their part, only need to avoid defeat against Christiansen’s side to advance.

Inside the Croatian camp, the mood has shifted from anxiety to opportunity. Pasalic captured that swing with blunt honesty.

“We were pretty aware of our quality and the situation that we were in. What we didn’t do in the first half, we did in the second half,” he said. “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 centre of it all.

At 40, he continues to bend time, dictating games with the same poise that carried Croatia to the 2018 final. The legs are older, the runs shorter, but the mind remains two passes ahead. As long as that holds, Croatia will believe this “Infinite Legacy” has at least one more knockout run left in it.