Outdone for shots and penalty area touches by an impressive Panama side, Croatia were still able to kick-start their World Cup campaign with a nervy 1-0 win in Toronto.

We reflect on this game in our Scout Notes, which features match stats from our World Cup Toolkit page.

PANAMA 0-1 CROATIA

• Goals: Budimir
• Assists: Stanisic
• Top points scorers: Stanisic (12), Sutalo (9), Livakovic (9), Pongracic (9), Budimir (8)

TEAM STATS

SCOUT NOTES

• Head coach Zlatko Delic began with Mateo Kovacic ($6.0m), Marin Pongracic ($4.0m) and Marco Pasalic ($5.3m) in his lineup, rather than Luka Vuskovic ($3.7m), Petar Sucic ($4.2m) and Mario Pasalic ($6.4m).
• Panama’s sole alteration brought in Jose Fajardo ($4.7m) for Cecilio Waterman ($5.0m).
• Immediately following the dour 0-0 between England and Ghana, this first half was similarly ugly. A mere three shots, combining for 0.11 expected goals (xG).
• That doesn’t include a Jose Luis Rodriguez ($5.6m) header that was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Dominik Livakovic ($4.5m), because the ball had gone out of play prior to Amir Murillo‘s ($5.0m) cross.

“We played well. We fought until the end, staying true to our identity and the only thing I can say is that I am proud of my players. They played a great game, we went toe-to-toe with Croatia. That’s just how football goes. They had one clear chance and scored it.

“The truth is that they did not create too much danger against us. I think we were brave in this match and once again, I’m proud of the boys.” – Panama head coach Thomas Christiansen

• Two tactical substitutions were made at half-time, removing Josko Gvardiol ($5.0m) and Petar Musa ($5.1m) for Andrej Kramaric ($6.2m) and Ante Budimir ($6.8m). This denied Gvardiol any clean sheet or Scouting Bonus points. Everybody from these nations is eligible for the latter, as none reach 5.0% ownership.
• Instead, Josip Stanisic ($4.3m) was the defender to haul. A right-sided one-two between him and Marco Pasalic led to a low cross that unmarked Budimir tapped in. Appearance points, a clean sheet, an assist and Scouting Bonus rewards meant the Bayern Munich man delivered 12 points.
• It was a special night for Luka Modric ($6.2m), the next most-owned individual after Gvardiol. The 40-year-old collected his 200th international cap, becoming the fourth player to ever reach this threshold alongside Cristiano Ronaldo ($10.0m), Lionel Messi ($10.0m) and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa.
• Soon after Budimir’s winner, all Panama outfielders were attacking a corner when Croatia broke free via Modric. He put Marco Pasalic clear through, but the Orlando City winger messed up both the original shot, then the rebound.

“I want to congratulate the opponent, who was very good today and gave us a lot of difficulties. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be this difficult. We didn’t react the best, maybe that was due to the pressure as we really needed these three points.

“I’m glad we were able to win Luka [Modric]’s 200th game. He played excellently today, at 40 years of age. We’re so happy to have him in the national team.” – Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic

• However, Panama didn’t give up. Livakovic had to make two saves from Murillo, then pushed a Carlos Harvey ($4.9m) header over the bar.
• Wing-back Murillo carved out three attempts and three accurate crosses in total, also accumulating a match-high of six touches inside the opposition box. He is full of attacking threat.
• Panama were good here and only lost to Ghana in stoppage time, yet this defeat ensures their World Cup elimination.
• Whoever finishes second in this group will face a fellow runner-up (Portugal or Colombia), whereas third place must meet a winner. That makes Croatia v Ghana important on Saturday.