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Panama vs Croatia Predictions & Tips - Petar Musa to Keep Scoring at the 2026 World Cup

Alex Waite

Editor

Last updated: Tue 23 Jun 2026 08:13

Alex Waite 23 Jun 2026

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Panama have failed to keep a clean sheet in 8 consecutive games
Croatia’s Petar Musa has scored 14 goals for club and country this season
Musa goals are tipped in a high-scoring 2026 World Cup encounter

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Croatia’s Petar Musa has scored 11 goals in last 14 games for club and country (Getty)

Panama vs Croatia Preview

Panama struggle to keep the goals out and Croatia are high-scoring. Petar Musa is a serious goal threat and he can find the net in a 2026 World Cup goal-fest.

Panama vs Croatia Preview
11 Goals in 14 for Petar Musa
H2H
Panama Leaky in Defence
Croatia Get Amongst the Goals
Predicted Starting Lineups & Team News

11 Goals in 14 for Petar Musa

Panama have seen BTTS in 5 of their last 6 games.
Croatia’s Petar Musa has scored 11 goals in his last 14 games for club and country.
Croatia have seen over 2.5 goals in their last 2 matches.

H2H

This will be the first-ever meeting between Panama and Croatia.

Panama Leaky in Defence

Panama have struggled at the back in recent matches. They have failed to keep a clean sheet since a 3-0 win over El Salvador in November 2025.

The Central American side played seven friendlies ahead of the 2026 World Cup and conceded 13 goals.

Panama played two World Cup warm-up games and beat the Dominican Republic 4-2 before a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Canal Men’s inconsistent form continued with a 1-0 loss against Ghana in Group L. Thomas Christiansen’s team allowed 1.31 XG, had four shots on target and conceded a 95th-minute winner.

Croatia Get Amongst the Goals

Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia are in patchy recent form and winless in four of their last nine fixtures. The Vatreni have seen 30 goals in that spell.

Croatia were on a four-match winning streak, scoring 11 goals, from October to March. Back-to-back losses followed against Brazil 3-1 and Belgium 2-0 before a 2-1 triumph over Slovenia.

The European outfit fell to a 4-2 defeat in their 2026 World Cup opener against England. Croatia trailed twice and Martin Baturina and Petar Musa equalised in the first half before Dalic’s side conceded two second-half goals.

Predicted Starting Lineups & Team News

Panama (3-4-3): Orlando Mosquera; Jiovany Ramos, Jose Cordoba, Andres Andrade; Amir Murillo, Carlos Harvey, Yoel Barcenas, Cesar Blackman; Cristian Martinez, Cecilio Waterman, Ismael Diaz

Panama have no injuries or suspensions.

Ismael Díaz was left out of Panama’s starting lineup against Ghana. The winger is likely to return against Croatia after scoring 17 goals in 57 internationals.

Croatia (3-4-2-1): Dominik Livakovic; Josip Sutalo, Luka Vuskovic, Joskov Gvardiol; Josip Stanisic, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic; Petar Sucic, Martin Baturina; Petar Musa

Striker Petar Musa has scored two goals in his last three starts for Croatia and is likely to lead the line.

Luka Modric is expected to start here and make his 200th international appearance.

Zlatko Dalic praised the veteran midfielder’s influence for Croatia and said, “Modric is still the main player for this team, the driving force for the national team, the player who keeps the team running.”

Verdict

Panama v Croatia

Panama and Croatia often see BTTS and over 2.5 goals. Another high-scoring result is likely and in-form Petar Musa can strike again in the 2026 World Cup.

Over 2.5 Goals

Total Goals

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BTTS Yes

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Petar Musa

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Petar Musa

First Goalscorer

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Alex is a full-time sports writer, covering football, cricket, golf, rugby and tennis as well as providing informative betting guides.

Alex was born in London and studied at Swansea University in Wales. He used to work as a teacher in London but changed a few years ago to work as a full-time sports writer. Mostly enjoys watching and writing about football, cricket, golf, rugby and tennis.

Also featured at OneFootball, Football Whispers and World Soccer Talk and can be found at Muckrack, LinkedIn, X and Game Day Stories SubStack.