For all the groups that end with the biggest match, sometimes you just want to see the big teams go at it right away.
England and Croatia meet Wednesday afternoon in Jerry World AT&T Stadium Dallas Stadium in Arlington, TX to kick off what should be a relatively drama free group. There are two clear favorites and then one team hoping to be on three points to survive the tiebreaker. Can England start their group quest with a win or can the ageless Luka Modric stave off father time once more?
Why a primer and not a preview? Because this is more of a handy reference guide than it is expert analysis. I did not watch or scout 32 international teams to prepare for the World Cup let alone 48 of them because I enjoy sleep and I am not apologizing.
TV SCHEDULE
Wednesday, June 17
Match 22: England vs. Croatia, 4 p.m. on Fox (Dallas)
Match 23: Ghana vs. Panama, 7 p.m. on FS1 (Toronto)
Tuesday, June 23
Match 46: England vs. Ghana, 4 p.m. on Fox (Boston)
Match 47: Panama vs. Croatia, 7 p.m. on Fox (Toronto)
Saturday, June 27
Match 67: Panama vs. England, 5 p.m. on Fox (East Rutherford, N.J.)
Match 68: Croatia vs. Ghana, 5 p.m. on FS1 (Philadelphia)
GROUP L TEAM PRIMERS
Author's Notes: FIFA Rankings are from the November 2025 listing at the time of the tournament draw. Players international caps/goals are relatively accurate but may not include the recent warm-up friendlies as research for these articles started weeks ago. Abbreviations next to the country names should be their official Olympic code on the score bug and the Letter/Number is their draw position for the group schedule not their pot from the initial tournament draw. Warm up friendlies in the USA are noted otherwise vs/at indicates true home/away matches.
Sam Lattof
CROATIA [CRO/L2]
Head Coach: Zlatko Dalic (BIH/YUG)
FIFA Ranking: 10
Nickname: Vatreni (Blazers), Kockasti (Checkered Ones)
Qualification: UEFA (Europe) Group L Winners
Appearance: 7th
Best Finish: Runner-up (2018)
Roster Breakdown: 2 Domestic, 7 Italy, 5 Germany, 3 England, 3 Spain, 2 Denmark, 2 Netherlands, 2 USA/MLS
Recent Matches: Friendly L vs Belgium 0-2, Friendly W vs Slovenia 2-1
Player To Know: MF Luka Modric, AC Milan, 198 Int’l Caps / 29 Int’l Goals - The ageless midfield maestro should easily make the exclusive doub cen le turion club and cement his immortal status among the greats of his generation. Played 37 games in all competitions for AC Milan this year in case you thought he might have been slowing down.
Players To Watch: FWs Petar Musa (FC Dallas/MLS) and Marco Pasalic (Orlando City/MLS), 26 Combined Caps / 2 Combined Goals - These two have been scoresheet regulars in MLS, Pasalic with 12 goals last year in Orlando and Musa with three double digit seasons out of three including 12 goals already this year in just 13 games.
Tournament Outlook
One of the most dangerous teams out of Pot 2, they can absolutely push England for the top of this group. A lone draw away to Czech Republic their only blemish in qualifying we’ll see if the glorious red and white checkered shirts will make a third consecutive appearance in the semifinals at the World Cup to follow up on their runner up and third place finishes the last two editions.
Jake Catanese
ENGLAND [ENG/L1]
Head Coach: Thomas Tuchel (GER)
FIFA Ranking: 4
Nickname: Three Lions
Qualification: UEFA (Europe) Group K Winners
Appearance: 17th
Best Finish: Champions (1966)
Roster Breakdown: 21 Domestic/EPL, 2 Germany, 2 Spain, 1 Saudi Arabia
Recent Matches: Friendly (Tampa, FL) W vs New Zealand 1-0, Friendly (Orlando, FL) W vs Costa Rica 3-0
Player To Know: FW Harry Kane, Bayern Munich (GER), 114 Int’l Caps/79 Int’l Goals – The longtime Tottenham star moved to the Bundesliga three years ago and basically is averaging one goal a match in all competitions (almost 150 games) last three years on top of 8 goals in qualifying.
Player To Watch: MF Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid (ESP), 48 Int’l Caps / 8 Int’l Goals – The 22-year-old already has 140 total appearances for Real Madrid including 87 in La Liga to go along with an already impressive international resume with the Three Lions, Bellingham is one of the most well-rounded midfielders in the world as he makes his second World Cup tournament.
Tournament Outlook
Is it finally coming home? Probably not, but the two-time Euro runners up are always a deep knockout threat until proven otherwise. Thomas Tuchel left some big names like Harry Maguire, Cole Palmer, and Phil Foden off this roster and there might be some questions for the defense to answer but they shouldn’t have many issues in the group stage. If they don’t top the group, a matchup with the Group K runner up (either Portugal or Colombia) will make their journey through the knockouts a lot tougher.
Jake Catanese
GHANA [GHA/L3]
Head Coach: Carlos Queiroz (POR)
FIFA Ranking: 72
Nickname: Black Stars
Qualification: CAF (Africa) Group I Winners
Appearance: 5th
Best Finish: Quarterfinals (2010)
Roster Breakdown: 1 Domestic, 7 France, 4 Spain, 4 England, 1 Cyprus, 1 Czech Republic, 1 Denmark, 1 Ireland, 1 Germany, 1 Greece, 1 Italy, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Switzerland, 1 Turkey
Recent Matches: Friendly L at Mexico 0-2, Friendly D at Wales 0-0
Player To Know: FW Jordan Ayew, Leicester City (ENG), 120 Int’l Caps / 34 Int’l Goals – Will break a tie with his brother Andre as the most capped player for Ghana in his next appearance, the longtime Crystal Palace man will have a new team next year after being released by the League One bound Foxes. Led Ghana with 7 goals in qualifying.
Player To Watch: FW Antoine Semenyo, Manchester City (ENG), 34 Int’l Caps / 3 Int’l Goals – The winger split his time between Bournemouth and Man City last year after making a very expensive winter move to the blue side of Manchester. Totaled 17 goals in the EPL last year across the whole season.
Tournament Outlook
I do think Ghana is vastly under ranked by FIFA but it’s been a rough go for the Black Stars since that magical run back in 2010. Their golden generation were AFCON semifinal regulars until 2017 but they got grouped in 2021 and 2023 and didn’t even qualify for the most recent edition. The lack of tournament success has carried over to the World Cup as well as they’ve been grouped in their previous two appearances in 2014 and 2022 and missed out on 2018 altogether. This is not exactly a draw that inspires confidence in anything but a potential third place opportunity.
PANAMA [PAN/L4]
Head Coach: Thomas Christiansen (DEN)
FIFA Ranking: 30
Nickname: Los Canaleros
Qualification: CONCACAF (C. America) Group A Winners
Appearance: 2nd
Best Finish: Group Stage (2018)
Roster Breakdown: 2 Domestic, 3 Mexico, 2 Costa Rica, 2 Chile, 2 Ecuador, 2 USA/MLS, 2 Venezuela, 1 Azerbaijan, 1 Austria, 1 England, 1 Israel, 1 Honduras, 1 Russia, 1 Slovenia, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Turkey, 1 Unattached
Recent Matches: Friendly L at Brazil 2-6, Friendly W vs Dominican Republic 4-2, Friendly (St. Louis, MO) D vs Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1
Player To Know: FW Jose Fajardo, Universidad Catolica (ECU), 68 Int’l Caps / 17 Int’l Goals – If you don’t remember it because you rightly blacked it out from memory, it was Fajardo’s winner against the USMNT in Copa America 2024 that helped group the Americans. Had winners against El Salvador and Guatemala in qualifying as well.
Player To Watch: MF Ismael Diaz, Club Leon (MEX), 57 Int’l Caps / 17 Int’l Goals – Usually a left sided player, Diaz scored 10 goals in his first year at Leon after a productive spell in Ecuador. Has two hat tricks in CONCACAF Gold Cup play and made one sub appearance eight years ago in the World Cup.
Tournament Outlook
Of all the teams Panama did not want to see again in their second World Cup trip...England was probably at the top of that list considering the 6-1 rout the Three Lions put on Panama in Russia eight years ago. Unlike Ghana I think their ranking is a tad too high but have a solid chance to claim their first World Cup point but anything else is an incredible long shot as other CONCACAF team gets unlucky with the draw.
GROUP OVERVIEW
Obviously strange things can happen, but this group should be mostly academic after today. Whoever wins between England and Croatia should win the group, whoever wins between Panama and Ghana should be third. If the favorites tie than it's goal difference and goals scored but it would probably doom the Canaleros and Black Stars chances if they don't get three points today.
England in particular have a lot of questions to answer because of Tuchel's squad selection so they can ill afford a slow start. Runner up in this group plays the runner up from Group K which is likely to be Portugal or Colombia and that should be a great Round of 32 match regardless of who is in it. Rooting for England-Portugal so the internet can lose it's mind.
I want to give the CONCACAF side the edge for third place but even with a win they'll also need to keep the goal difference down and we know from past experience how hard that is.
Third Place Advancement: Low (Panama)
GROUP PREDICTIONS
- Croatia 2. England 3. Panama 4. Ghana
