England, Croatia chase Group L top spot on World Cup finale

England and Croatia went to the field at 5 p.m. ET on the final day of the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage, with Group L still carrying real knockout pressure into the late window. England met Panama at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, while Croatia faced Ghana in Philadelphia, and the two results helped finish setting the Round of 32 bracket on a day when six matches across Groups J, K and L were being completed.

The stakes were sharply defined before kickoff. England and Ghana entered the day level at the top of Group L on four points each, Croatia sat one point back on three, and Panama had already been eliminated on zero. England had already secured a place in the Round of 32, but still needed a strong finish to lock down first place in the group. Croatia, the 2018 finalists, still had a path forward if the result against Ghana broke the right way.

FIFA had framed the group as one of the most recognizable in the tournament, pairing former world champions England with Croatia, Ghana and Panama in a competition that runs from June 11 through July 19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. By the time the final group-stage matches arrived, the pressure was less about survival for England and more about seeding, with top spot carrying the clearest route into the next round.

On the pitch, England moved toward that objective quickly. Jude Bellingham scored shortly after halftime against Panama, and Harry Kane also found the net, giving England the edge they needed to control the group race. With Panama already out, the match in New Jersey was about whether England would finish at the summit of Group L, while the Croatia-Ghana result in Philadelphia still had the power to decide whether Croatia would extend its run into the knockout stage.

The final whistle across Group L closed one of the day’s last qualification questions and cleared more space in the knockout bracket before the Round of 32 began. FOX Sports carried Panama against England on FOX and Croatia against Ghana on FS1 in the United States, underscoring how much of the tournament’s immediate shape was still being determined in real time as the group stage ended.