Ghana’s fans and players celebrated wildly as Caleb Yirenkyi finished a sweeping counterattack ‌‌with a tap-in goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time to give the team a last-gasp win over Panama in both teams’ opening World Cup match in rainy Toronto.

The goal was followed by a melee before the referee blew the full-time whistle, sealing a 1-0 victory in the Group L match on Wednesday.

After Ghana quickly moved the play from their own half, Brandon Thomas-Asante drove ⁠⁠the ball into the 18-yard box down the left flank and rolled a pass towards the middle for Yirenkyi to redirect into the net.

The second half was in complete contrast with the very quiet first half.

The teams picked up the tempo in the second half, but scoring chances remained minimal until the decisive play.

Panama were the superior team before half-time, while Ghana dictated more of the play after the interval.

The match was viewed as a crucial showdown between teams expected to battle for third place ‌‌in Group L.

Earlier on Wednesday, England defeated Croatia 4-2 in a match between the group favourites.

At the start of the tournament, FIFA ranked England fourth, Croatia 11th, Panama at 34, and Ghana at number 73.

In the second minute, Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi was called into action, diving to his right to stop a 15-yard volley attempt by Cecilio Waterman.

Panama had another half-chance in the 38th minute. Ati Zigi made ⁠⁠a leaping punch to clear a cross. The ball fell to ⁠⁠Panama’s Jiovany Ramos, who sliced his 14-yard, right-footed strike wide to the right

Ati Zigi was replaced at half-time due to an injury, with Benjamin Asare taking over in the net.

Ghana attempted no shots in the first half, the first ⁠⁠team in this year’s World Cup to accomplish that dubious feat. Jonas Adjetey ended the drought with a header, which Panama’s Orlando Mosquera ⁠⁠stopped in the 48th minute.

The Ghanaians were missing midfielder ⁠⁠Thomas Partey, who was denied a visa to enter Canada due to pending sexual-assault charges against him in the United Kingdom. He has denied the accusations. Partey will be available for Ghana’s other two group games, both to be played in the ‌‌United States.

Ghana are in the World Cup for the fifth time in the past six editions, with their best result being a quarterfinal appearance in 2010.

Panama are competing at just ‌‌their ‌‌second World Cup, having lost all three of their group-stage matches in 2018.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, with Ghana facing England in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and Panama opposing Croatia in Toronto.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has announced that a memorandum of understanding with the United States has been finalised and signed electronically by both sides.

He added that the agreement has already gone into effect.

“The text of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was finalised with the signatures of the presidents,” Baghaei told the news agency IRNA. “Now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement.”

Wednesday’s statement appears to confirm that the US and Iran have agreed to suspend military operations, paving the way for further negotiations.

Given that both sides signed the agreement electronically, Baghaei noted that there would be no signing ceremony on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as had previously been expected.

Negotiating teams, however, still plan to be in the Swiss city. A decision on a possible in-person meeting between them is expected in the coming hours, though for now such plans are paused, according to Baghaei.

While the office of US President Donald Trump has yet to issue a formal statement on the signing, Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna explained that a White House spokesperson confirmed earlier in the day that it happened.

But Hanna warned that the memorandum is likely to face domestic backlash in the US, where Trump had been under right-wing pressure to take a hard line against Iran.

“There’s a great deal of dissatisfaction with the memorandum of understanding, as it has been outlined to the public at this particular point, even among some Republicans who have expressed the concern that Iran is being treated leniently,” Hanna said.

He also emphasised the administration’s position that the memorandum is not a full-fledged deal but rather a prelude to more negotiations.

“The administration is fighting hard to persuade the American public and American politicians that this is not a defeat for the United States,” Hanna said.

Since February 28, the US and Israel have been jointly engaged in a war against Iran, though a temporary ceasefire suspended much of the most intense fighting on April 8.

Trump has repeatedly said his goal in launching the war was to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Since the memorandum was revealed, he has highlighted the document’s assurances that Iran will not seek a nuclear weapon, though Tehran has long denied any intention of doing so.

But according to a US account, the memo goes beyond the question of nuclear weapons. It sets up a 60-day timeline for a final deal to be struck, and it indicates that the US will rally “regional partners” to create a $300bn for Iran’s reconstruction.

US would also work towards lifting its sanctions against Iran, and the country would issue waivers for the export of Iranian fuel.

Iran has touted those terms as a victory. On Wednesday, chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told Fars, an Iranian state news agency, that the US had failed to achieve its goals with Iran and pointed to the memo as proof.

“The agreement is a record of US failure,” Ghalibaf said. “People will see it and judge.”

He also explained that the Strait of Hormuz would not return to “pre-war conditions” after the 60-day period for negotiations stipulated in the agreement. He suggested that Iran will expect payments for use of the waterway.

“I emphasise again that the Strait of Hormuz will never return to the previous conditions,” Ghalibaf said.

“Iran has the right to sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, and of course, we will receive a fee for services.”

That position is likely to put pressure on the Trump administration, which had pledged that the strait, a key waterway for trade, would be “permanently toll-free”.

Since the start of the war, Iran has blocked the waterway, sending global prices for fuel, fertiliser and other goods soaring.

The US had responded with its own blockade of Iranian ports, though that effort is slated to end under the memorandum.

Both sides, however, have emphasised that the memorandum of understanding is not a final agreement on all issues of dispute. More negotiations are expected to resolve lasting impasses.

“It will only become a deal, as such, at the end of the 60-day negotiation period. At least, that’s the intention,” Hanna reported.

[Aljazeera]

A game that began with the prospect of a chastening defeat for Pakistan at South Africa’s hands did, indeed, end in defeat, but that didn’t quite tell the whole story.

South Africa savagely tore through Pakistan’s batting line-up, reducing them to 55 for 8 and setting up what looked like a run-rate boosting win. But Fatima Sana’s half-century, an unbeaten 38-ball 55, enabled Pakistan to scrap their way back into the contest, and put up 126.

That was still well below par, and a blistering half-century from Annerie Dercksen set South Africa on course. Instead Pakistan kept taking enough wickets to keep themselves in contention till late on, only for poor fielding to leave them swimming against the tide. South Africa eventually sealed a nervy win with two wickets and three overs to spare.

South Africa set the tone from the very first ball of the game, when Matizanne Kapp trapped Muneeba Ali in front. She finished the over with a gem of a ball that went through bat and pad after holding its line, and crashed into the top of Gull Feroza’s middle and off stumps.

It was only the start of the carnage South Africa were wreaking, with Kapp hobbling Ayesha Zafar with a yorker that landed on her foot in front of the stumps, while Ayabonga Khaka goaded Natalia Pervaiz into dragging on in the over that followed. Pakistan’s tendency to self-destruct with no fewer than four run-outs did not help, even if Sana’s brilliance gave them a total they could defend.

For four overs during the chase, they looked like that defence was very much on. South Africa were kept to just 20, while the irrepressible Sana had sent Sune Luus back. But Dercksen came in and blew Pakistan away through the middle overs with a devastating onslaught, kicking things off with 21 in an over off Rameen Shamim, punctuated by abysmal fielding from Pakistan. That was a theme running through the innings – Sana herself even put down two chances – but regular wickets kept Pakistan in with an outside chance.

However, just when the pressure began to tell, South Africa always found a way out with a boundary or a cameo. Even with the scores tied, Sana struck to remove Nadine de Klerk, the last recognised batter, leaving South Africa eight-down. However, as was the case throughout the game, Pakistan were their own worst enemy, with a stray wide down leg sealing the game for a relieved South African side.

It was bad enough for Pakistan that Kapp, and South Africa, were tearing through their line-up, but Pakistan gave them a helping hand with those four run-outs. Three of them were especially farcical, and were dotted around at key points during the innings just as they were beginning to rebuild.

The first to fall this way was Shamim, who watched the ball rather than her strike partner Iram Javed, before bizarrely turning around and giving Javed an earful after she was inevitably caught short. Javed might not have been at fault there, but then fell to an even more egregious bit of running, setting off for one after a routine clip to short midwicket rendered it virtually impossible. Completing the set was Nashra Sandhu, who was unlucky when her partner Sana tripped over the bowler, with Sandhu sacrificing herself. By now, Pakistan were 55 for 8.

Fatima Sana’s stunning innings

Sana could perhaps have pushed herself up the order, but she set about making up for lost time in a remarkable onslaught that somehow dragged her side back into the game. By the 15th over, Pakistan languished at 80 for 8, looking nowhere near able to put together even a remotely competitive score. But having taken the innings deep, Sana sprang her attack right at the death, kicking it off with a boundary off Kapp’s final delivery. With South Africa’s premier bowler out of the way, she unleashed in the overs that followed, culminating in a brutal final-over raid to plunder 19 off the over and power Pakistan to 126. It brought up her own half-century, with 42 runs coming off the innings final 19 balls.

Dercksen devastates Pakistan

As Sana batted on a different wicket to her teammates, Dercksen’s comfort was wholly at odds with the other batters’ nerves. When Pakistan threatened to turn the chase into a horrible scrap, she changed the complexion of the match with some of the cleanest power-hitting at this tournament. Shamim was taken to the cleaners in the fifth over as Dercksen used her bottom hand to repeatedly clear the mid-on and midwicket boundary, with her two sixes the biggest shots of the night from either team.

In between, she continued to expertly find the gaps, especially in the Powerplay, and take pressure off Laura Wolvaardt and Kapp at the other end. By the time she contributed her last run, South Africa needed just 51 in 63 with eight wickets in hand. It was a position of comfort that, even with South Africa’s jitters later on, they could not squander.

SCORES:
South Africa Women  127 for 8 in 16.5 overs  (Annerie Dercksen 52, Marizanne Kapp 10, Nadine de Klerk 37; Sadia Iqbal 2-26, Fatima  Sana 3-16, Nashra Sandhu 1-28, Tuba Hassan 2-28) beat Pakistan Women  126 for 9 in 20 overs (Iram Javed 11, Aliya Riaz 10, Fatima Sana 55*, Tuba Hasan 23; Marizanne Kapp 3-23, Shabnim  Ismail 1-15, Ayabonga Khaka 1-21)  by two wickets

[Cricinfo]