06/17/26 08:24:00
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06/17 20:23 CDT Caleb Yirenki's late goal gives Ghana a 1-0 victory over Panama
in the World Cup
Caleb Yirenki's late goal gives Ghana a 1-0 victory over Panama in the World Cup
By OWEN CAMEROS
Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) --- Caleb Yirenkyi tapped in a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante in
the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, and Ghana beat Panama 1-0 on
Wednesday night in the teams' World Cup opener.
At the end of a game that saw few chances for either side, Thomas-Asante got
loose on the left side and fired the ball across the goal mouth. Yirenkyi
knocked it in, sending his teammates streaming onto the field.
Ghana played without midfielder Thomas Partey, who was denied entry into Canada
while he awaits trial on rape charges in England.
The late goal denied Panama its first World Cup point.
The only shot on goal in the first half came two minutes in, when Panama
forward Cecilio Waterman latched onto a low cross from Amir Murillo and clipped
a ball from the center of the box toward the net. Ati-Zigi dove to his right
and palmed the ball away.
The goalkeeper left the game at halftime after bearing the brunt of a couple of
hard collisions. He was replaced by Benjamin Asare.
The result puts Ghana at the top of Group L with England, which beat Croatia
4-2 earlier in the day.
After the first hour, when chances came at a premium at rainy BMO Field, the
match opened up and both teams started smashing shots toward the net.
In the 65th minute, Thomas-Asante broke through Panama's back line and played a
ball along the 6-yard box toward Jordan Ayew, but Jiovany Ramos ran up from
behind with a tackle to prevent the tap-in.
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Owen Cameros is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at
Penn State.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
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