Luka Modric Celebrates 200 Caps as Croatia Edges Panama
On a tight, nervous night in Toronto, the football kept drifting back to the same right boot. At 40 years old, Luka Modric walked out for his 200th cap and refused to let the occasion pass as a mere statistic. He turned it into a landmark Croatia may look back on as the night their World Cup campaign finally stirred.
Only three men had reached this international summit before him: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Bader al-Mutawa. Modric joined them with the same understated stride he has carried for two decades. No grandstanding, no theatrics. Just the armband, the familiar No 10, and the weight of a nation that still leans on him.
Zlatko Dalic knew exactly what it meant.
“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. He called Modric “very humble,” the kind of captain who shies away from “major celebrations,” but even he allowed himself a smile that this milestone came “in front of our fans.”
The squad did the celebrating for him. At full time they pulled on black T-shirts emblazoned with “Infinite Legacy” and the number 200, a simple message for a player who has long since crossed from star to symbol.
Croatia cracked by Panama’s discipline
For 45 minutes, though, Modric’s big night threatened to be suffocated by Panama’s shape and stubbornness.
Thomas Christiansen set his team up in a compact 5-4-1, and it worked. Lines tight, distances short, every Croatian touch in the final third met by a red shirt and a body in the way. Croatia’s passing slowed, their attacks funneled wide and away from danger. The frustration in the stands grew with every sideways ball.
Panama were not just clinging on. They nearly spoiled the script.
Jose Luis Rodriguez rose in the box and flicked a header that seemed destined for the net, only for Dominik Livakovic to get the slightest touch and divert it onto the underside of the bar. The ball bounced out, Croatia exhaled, and the sense grew that this might become one of those nights that haunt a tournament.
Dalic did not wait to find out. He changed the picture.
Budimir changes everything
At the interval, the Croatia coach turned to Ante Budimir. The Osasuna record scorer came on to give them a focal point, a body to occupy the three Panamanian centre-backs and a target for all that patient build-up.
The effect was immediate. Croatia started to play higher, crosses began to carry menace instead of hope, and the pressure built.
It finally told in the 54th minute.
Marco Pasalic, now finding pockets of space Panama had previously closed, produced the moment of invention the game was begging for. A clever backheel released Josip Stanisic on the right, and the defender drove a low ball across the face of goal. At the back post, Budimir arrived with the calm of a man who has lived his life in these positions. One touch, guided into the corner. 1-0, and a roar that shook the Toronto night.
The goal changed everything. Croatia’s bench erupted, the travelling support behind the goal bounced and bellowed, and for the first time in the tournament their campaign felt alive.
Pasalic should have buried the contest soon after. Slipped through one-on-one, he had the chance to ease every Croatian nerve. Orlando Mosquera stood tall, blocked the first effort, and Pasalic lashed the rebound over the bar. A huge escape for Panama, and a reminder that Croatia, for all their control, were still walking a tightrope.
Dalic’s adjustment at half-time, though, had already done its damage. The extra presence in the box gave Modric and the midfield a reference point, the wide players a target, and Croatia the directness they had lacked in their opening defeat to England. From a team searching for ideas, they had become one with a clear route to goal.
Panama bow out with heads high
For Panama, this was the night their 2026 journey officially ended. No points from two games, no goals, and now only England left to face with elimination already confirmed.
Yet Christiansen’s side did not go quietly.
They had “that hunger, that dedication, that spirit,” as the coach put it afterwards. “That’s what we wanted of the team. I’m super proud of them. They [Croatia] put two shots on goal and scored one.” It was a pointed remark, but also an honest reflection of a side that battled but lacked the ruthless edge this level demands.
Even after falling behind, Panama kept swinging. They won seven corners, launched bodies into the box, and forced Livakovic into several sharp saves during a frantic second-half spell. The Canaleros chased every lost cause, stretched Croatia’s back line, and made sure the final whistle came as a relief rather than a formality.
The margins, though, were unforgiving. No goals in two games, chances not taken, and a tournament slipping away before it ever truly caught fire for them.
Group L blown wide open
The wider picture now looks far brighter for Croatia than it did at kick-off.
England’s 0-0 draw with Ghana earlier in the day had tightened Group L. England and Ghana sit on four points each; Croatia, after this narrow but vital win, move to three and suddenly feel like themselves again.
The mathematics are simple. Beat Ghana in Philadelphia and Croatia are in the last 32. Anything less, and they start watching the other result and the table with the kind of anxiety that can shred a dressing room. England, by contrast, need only avoid defeat against already-eliminated Panama to progress.
Inside the Croatian camp, the mood has shifted. “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.”
They move on with momentum, with a system that finally clicked, and with a captain who continues to bend time to his will. Modric has been central to every Croatian surge of the modern era: the run to the 2018 final, the deep pushes in major tournaments, the constant refusal to fade.
Now, at 200 caps, he walks into another decisive night with everything still on the line.
One more game, one more test, and perhaps one more chapter for that “Infinite Legacy” his team-mates spelled out across their chests.
