England win Group L, Croatia and Ghana also advance to 2026 World Cup playoffs

England defeated Panama in the third round of Group L at the 2026 World Cup. In the parallel match, Croatia beat Ghana and moved up to second place. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Group L, Round 3, June 28, 02:00, New York, MetLife Stadium

**PANAMA – ENGLAND 0:2 (0:0)** Goals: Bellingham 62 (0:1), Kane 67 (0:2)

Group L, Round 3, June 28, 02:00, Philadelphia, LFF

**CROATIA – GHANA 2:1 (1:0)** Goals: Sučić 31 (1:0), Lukkassen 73 (1:1), Vlašić 83 (2:1)

England beat Panama 2-0. After the first half, Thomas Tuchel's team failed to open the scoring but achieved results after the break. Jude Bellingham scored in the 62nd minute, and five minutes later Harry Kane doubled the lead.

This victory allowed England to finish the group stage in first place. The team collected seven points: in the first round, England beat Croatia, then drew with Ghana, and in the final match took three points against Panama.

In the other group match, Croatia beat Ghana 2-1. In the 31st minute, Petar Sučić put Croatia ahead. In the second half, Ghana equalized through Derrick Lukkassen, but in the 83rd minute Nikola Vlašić scored the winner.

Thanks to this victory, Croatia collected six points and advanced to the playoffs from second place. Ghana finished the group stage third with four points and also kept a place in the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams. Panama lost all three matches and left the tournament.

In the round of 16, England will play against one of the third-placed teams from Groups E, H, I, J, or K. According to preliminary projections, one of the likely opponents for England is Senegal, but the final pairing depends on the results of the last matches in other groups.

Croatia will face the second-placed team from Group K in the first round of the playoffs. This opponent will be determined after the match Colombia vs Portugal.

Ghana, advancing from third place in Group L, is scheduled to play against the winner of Group K. This pairing will also be finalized after the completion of matches in Group K.