{"id":1695,"date":"2026-06-29T21:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=1695"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:17:07","slug":"ghana-suffers-defeat-to-croatia-but-qualify-for-round-of-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=1695","title":{"rendered":"Ghana suffers defeat to Croatia but qualify for Round of 32"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Simon Asare, GNA<\/p>\n

Accra, June 27, GNA \u2013 Ghana suffered a 2-1 defeat to Croatia at the Philadelphia Stadium but still secured qualification to the Round of 32.<\/p>\n

The Black Stars finished third in Group L with four points, advancing as one of the best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n

Both sides started cautiously, enjoying spells of possession but creating few clear-cut scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

Kamaldeen Sulemana lost possession in the 18th minute, allowing Nikola Vla\u0161i\u0107 to pounce, but his effort struck the base of the post.<\/p>\n

Croatia took the lead in the 31st minute when Petar Su\u010di\u0107 unleashed a long-range strike that beat Ghana goalkeeper Benjamin Asare.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s midfield, marshalled by Elisha Owusu and Thomas Partey, struggled to impose themselves and committed several unforced errors.<\/p>\n

Antoine Semenyo came close to equalising four minutes before the break, but his shot narrowly missed the target.<\/p>\n

Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz introduced Abdul Fatawu Issahaku after the interval, and the winger nearly made an immediate impact with a 25-yard effort that went wide.<\/p>\n

Ghana pressed for an equaliser but were let down by poor passing in the final third.<\/p>\n

The Black Stars drew level in the 73rd minute when Derrick Luckassen tapped home from close range following an Ernest Nuamah free-kick.<\/p>\n

The goal stood after a lengthy VAR review.<\/p>\n

Croatia, however, responded quickly.<\/p>\n

Mario Pa\u0161ali\u0107 forced a fine save from Asare, but Su\u010di\u0107 rose highest to head home the resulting corner and restored his side\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

Despite the defeat, Ghana advance to the next stage and will face the winner of Group K, either Colombia or Portugal.<\/p>\n

GNA<\/p>\n

Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade<\/p>\n

Reporter: Simon Asare [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n

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By Simon Asare, GNA Accra, June 27, GNA \u2013 Ghana suffered a 2-1 defeat to Croatia at the Philadelphia Stadium but still secured qualification to the Round of 32. The Black Stars finished third in Group L with four points, advancing as one of the best third-placed teams. Both sides started cautiously, enjoying spells of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}