What Ghana Did in the Final 5 Minutes That Panama Never Saw Coming

A goal that began on a whiteboard

Ninety four minutes on the clock, legs cramping, voices hoarse, and it all came down to a move Ghana had been sketching on a whiteboard for weeks.

Get the ball to the wings, then put it in the box. Simple in theory, brutally hard in a World Cup opener when the weight of a continent sits on your shoulders and an opponent refuses to budge. Yet on a chilly Toronto night, that plan finally came to life in the final seconds, just as Panama were beginning to taste history.

Caleb Yirenkyi’s tap in deep into stoppage time turned what looked l…