Croatia boosted their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup as Ante Budimir came off the bench to score the only goal in their 1-0 win over Panama. 

After England's goalless draw with Ghana, Croatia knew that a victory was a must, and they delivered here to move on to three points in Group L ahead of the final matchday. 

Panama did, however, start brightly but were unable to trouble Dominik Livakovic, with Cristian Martinez, who proved to be a tricky customer for Josko Gvardiol early on, sending a cross into the grateful arms of the Croatia goalkeeper. 

But Livakovic had to be alert to deny Jose Luis Rodriguez's header, producing a sensational save to tip his attempt onto the woodwork, though the goal would not have counted after Amir Murillo failed to keep the ball in play with his cross. 

It took Croatia until first-half stoppage time to register their first attempt at goal, with Martin Baturina cutting inside and forcing Orlando Mosquera into a smart stop low to his right, as Zlatko Dalic introduced Andrej Kramaric and Budimir at the break.

And Budimir needed just nine minutes to make an impact, with the substitute turning in Josip Stanisic's delivery from inside the six-yard box after the Bayern Munich full-back had been set free by Marco Pasalic's clever backheel down the right. 

Pasalic should have doubled Croatia's lead three minutes later after being picked out by Luka Modric's ball over the top, but his attempted dink was thwarted by Mosquera before he wildly flashed the rebound over the crossbar from a tight angle.

But Panama turned up the pressure after going behind, with Livakovic twice denying Murillo in quick succession before Carlos Harvey saw his header from a corner routine tipped over, but that was the closest they came to an equaliser as Croatia held on for a huge three points. 

Budimir stakes his claim as Modric enjoys victory on milestone appearance

Having showed flashes of their attacking brilliance against England in their opening group game, Croatia were frustrated by Panama, who became only the second CONCACAF team to prevent them from taking any shots on target in the first half of a World Cup match, after Mexico in 2014. 

But in what proved to be an inspired alteration, Budimir made the difference off the bench. He became just the fourth player to score for Croatia as a substitute at the World Cup, following in the footsteps of Bruno Petkovic and Lovro Majer in 2022 as well as Ivica Olic 24 years ago. 

And aged 34 years and 336 days, Budimir became Croatia's oldest goalscorer at the World Cup, breaking the previous record set by Olic against Cameroon in 2014 (34 years and 277 days), and it was another Croatian veteran in Modric who hit a landmark in Toronto. 

Modric made his 200th international appearance for Croatia, while since his debut at the World Cup in 2006, only Cristiano Ronaldo (23) and Lionel Messi (27) have played more matches in the competition than his 21, and he will be hoping to carry on improving that number. 

However, Croatia will know improvements will be needed to topple Ghana and finish in the top two. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.66 from their six shots to Panama's 0.62 from their eight attempts, with Thomas Christiansen's side eliminated in the process.