The World Cup Continues In Toronto With Ghana-Panama

It was no surprise that BMO Field and Toronto were rocking when the Canadian men’s national team kicked off the 2026 World Cup as co-hosts last week. It’s easy to get excited for the home team – there is a local fan base, and the surroundings are familiar.

The presence of massive crowds of visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina fans was an indication that something was different, the marches to the match were more voluminous than they had ever been before, but what that would mean for the remaining five non-Canadian matches in Toronto was still a little uncertain.

The city has been slow to embrace the moment: cost overruns, ticket prices, ever-snarling traffic concerns, the general malaise in a difficult time in a complicated world. Just weeks ago it was nearly imperceptible that the World Cup was coming. Those who live and breathe this stuff would have known and been rightly excited, but to the rest of the city it was abstract.

After Wednesday night’s clash between Panama and Ghana, it is no longer.

In the lead up to a match it can be hard to gauge the interest. Reports of both Ghanaians and Panamanians travelling and arriving in town, groups gathering to welcome their sides to the city. An early GO train ride to Exhibition provides the first glimpses, smatterings of gold and red in random distribution begin to emerge, but they are limited observances.

It’s only when the stadium is full that it begins to dawn.

To the north, that golden yellow; to the south, an equatorial red, the rest of the stadium a patchwork of both and neither. One of the cooler moments in those long minutes before kickoff is when the stadium DJ plays some tune of particular importance to the respective countries. Whether Panama, Ghana, or Bosnia and Herzegovina before them, when that familiar melody begins the building lights up with a spark of recognition – it is a small sign of welcome, of respect.

The din elevates as the players take the field. There was a particularly forceful roar from the Panamanians when the players marked their presence with a round of applause right before kickoff.

And then it begins.

Panama were the better side in the first half. Cecilio Waterman nearly scored inside of two minutes with a first time shot, dyed-red Jose Luis Rodríguez was a regular threat from the left.

When Ghana’s Ernest Nuamah raced up the flank and went down in a heap with Panama’s Jose Cordoba, the howls of each side, one pleased, the other not, combined into a single cry.

And then came the rain.

The hydration break in the first half was roundly booed, eclipsed only by the disdain with which the second half pause was greeted. It disturbed their flow – one cannot hit pause on a party.

Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Ghana’s keeper, had to be brave, twice putting his body on the line as ‘Si Se Puede’ encouraged his opponents again and again.

Bitchy the Hawk has presumably been given the tournament off, the duty of keeping the seagulls at bay another’s responsibility. Perhaps the small drone that hovered over the south end can handle those duties. One of her kind, however, was there just in case, nestling itself in the rafters of the west stand’s roof.

Thankfully, despite the unending rain, the only thunder was on the pitch. It was a bruising game. What it lacked in quality was made up by intent. The referee let them go at it; the vastly experienced Carlos Queiroz did not enjoy his introduction to the antics of Concacaf.

Cristian Martinez was bundled over in the area, the Panamanian fans thought it a penalty, the officials did not.

Without a proper head count it was hard to get the ratio straight. The trip from Panama to Canada is marginally shorter than the one from Ghana, though how many actually made those long voyages is not worth the bother to investigate. Let’s go with something along the lines of 45% Panama, 30% Ghana, and a good amount of neutrals just up for the occasion.

The African side made a better case for themselves in the second half. Antoine Semenyo, on an island wide, moved in-field, passes connected, threats became more cohesive, more regular.

Martinez went close up the other end, his shot into the wrong side of netting, nearly fooling the crowd who so badly wanted it to be otherwise. Ghana too honed in on the target with Brandon Thomas-Asante finding Jordan Ayew at the back-post, only for a sliding Jiovany Ramos to touch it away.

All Thunder, no blood.

A penalty shout for Ghana’s fell on similarly deaf ears. The incredulous protestations on the sidelines lasted even longer than it took Jerome Opoku to dust himself off and get back in the action.

Once more unnecessary protocol put a pause to the action. How dare it deny the fun?

As last call quickly approached the faintest half-chance, the merest hint of a moment, was welcomed with squeals of anticipation, though none was louder than when a shove on Thomas-Asante was waived away in the final moments.

And then it happened

A Semenyo ball wide for Thomas-Asante, who skipped over a challenge to surge up the left flank. His return ball into the area was missed at the near-post by Semenyo, but carried on to Caleb Yirenkyi to heel tap in a 95th minute winner.

The cacophony of thousands of human voices in celebration it elicited were eventually supported by a back-beat, morphing into a rhythmic, pulsating cheer. When the final whistle blew, Ghana celebrated some more, first amongst themselves, and then with their fans.

“It was crazy. The fans were loud all game for us,” said Semenyo post-match. “We appreciate them for everything. Celebrating that moment with them, teammates, family, friends, it’s amazing.”

It was a good night, for one side at least.

“[The support] was great,” said Thomas Christiansen. “It was a shame that we couldn’t give our fans this draw or win. We played a very good first half, but at the end we are sad about the final result, but we have to be proud of how we managed the game.”

Ghana’s fans danced into the night in Toronto’s Sankofa Square – one of those odd quirks that the world blesses on rare occasions.

Not much is expected of either side. Panama are the fourth-place team in Concacaf, and while the side has made big strides in recent years under Christiansen their quest for a first World Cup point continues. Ghana’s Black Stars are not the dark horses they once were, a new generation is building and this will be an early step on that long journey.

But for one night in Toronto it was more than enough for the 42,942 in attendance and the countless more who roamed the city to celebrate their distant homelands on foreign soil.

Toronto will host four more matches: Germany-Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday, Panama-Croatia on June 23, Senegal-Iraq on June 26, and a Round of 32 match between the runners-up of Groups K and L on July 2.

Whether one of the lucky few to go to the stadium, at the fan fest, at a smaller public gathering or the countless private ones around the city, enjoy it.