World Cup: “Ghana beating Panama will be perfect start” – Derek Boateng

Former Ghana midfielder Derek Boateng has urged the senior team to treat Panama with the utmost respect in the 2026 FIFA World Cup opener.

The Black Stars have been tipped to silence the three time CONCACAF Gold Cup runners-up at the World Cup when both sides clash on June 17 for the Group L opener.

Derek Boateng however believes Ghana will make a perfect start to the campaign if they scale the Panama hurdle.

Ghana must not underestimate Panama

“I feel like that’s a tough group, we all know how England plays, some of our players play with them in England, we all know how they move and how they do things,” he told Sporty FM.

“We know their top players and who are going to start the game and you see Croatia who always do well in tournaments they qualify for and people respect them a lot and they have really good players who work hard.

“Here comes Panama who you don’t know anything about and Panama captain plays in our team [San Diego] and I watch him every day in training and he is not a guy who runs a lot.

“But when the game starts he has brains more than anybody on the field, the passes that he will pick on the field, he will destroy your defenders with one pass, he really thinks ahead of everyone.

“They are Blacks and they didn’t just qualify by luck, they play well, they are really good and we are playing against them in the first game and I hear people saying that, as for Panama we will score them a lot.

“Everything starts from there, if we beat them I feel like England and Croatia is not tough, England is not tough. England is afraid of us because we have quality players. Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus, Kamaldeen Sulemana played against them so we have players who have matched them and know them.

“So I feel like the team that we have to look at the more is Panama because in every tournament your first game is the most important one, it gives you foundation for the rest of the games and I feel like we have to concentrate on that game.”

Derek Boateng who played at two FIFA World Cups in 2006 and 2010 in Germany and South Africa respectively, has ruled out the inclusion of Eddie Nketiah and Callum Hudson Odoi into the Black Stars squad for the World Cup.

Foreign player inclusion will bring chaos in Ghana squad

The former England youth internationals have become topics for discussion following their links to Ghana’s senior team but Boateng believes their addition will bring chaos among the players.

“They should not invite them. Hudson-Odoi and Nketiah, no, I don’t think it’s fair. It’s not fair for the rest of the players.

“I remember we went for AFCON qualifiers, tough conditions, bad pitches, and Kevin-Prince Boateng didn’t show up but when we had a game in England, he came to the hotel. The players insisted he would not play, and the FA made sure he left the camp.

“You cannot skip qualifiers and then show up when it’s convenient. It will not happen.

“Football is teamwork. Bringing them will create chaos. Players have friendships. If you’ve been grinding through qualifiers and someone else is invited ahead of you, it will affect the spirit.”

Ghana is paired against Panama, England and Croatia in Group L for their fifth World Cup appearance.

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