What's at stake in Group L matches Saturday?
Jun 26, 2026
England leads Group L on goal differential, meaning they need some help to win the group and lock in their spot in Atlanta on July 1. They need to equal or better Ghana’s result against Croatia. If Ghana draws and England loses, Ghana wins by more goals, then Ghana wins the group.
England’s r
oster features stars from some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including the English Premier League. England is looking for its first World Cup championship in 60 years.
Ghana wins the group with a result better than England’s in their game against Panama. Ghana qualifies for the knockout round with a win or a draw against Croatia, regardless of England’s result. If Ghana loses, they need England to lose by more goals or have scored fewer total goals to avoid the third-place tie-breaker group.
Croatia can win the group with a win and England’s loss. They’d qualify for the knockouts with a win regardless. Croatia is led by Luka Modric. FC Dallas striker Petar Musa contributed a goal in Croatia’s 4-2 loss to England. Croatia has reached the semifinals in back-to-back World Cups.
Panama was already eliminated after losing to Croatia and Ghana.
Both games are at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 27.
The full list of the eight best teams among those ranked third will be confirmed by FIFA on Saturday, after the games. Those teams will be determined as follows:
the greatest number of points obtained in all group matches
goal difference resulting from all group matches
the greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
highest team conduct score (players and team officials) relating to the number of yellow and red cards obtained in all group matches
the two or more teams still equal on points shall be ranked according to the most recent published edition of the FIFA/Coca‑Cola Men’s World Ranking
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