England 6-1 Panama
England stormed into the last 16 of the World Cup with a blistering first-half performance to blow Panama away, and Captain Marvel Harry Kane bagged a hat-trick!
We had a strong inkling here at SBOBET that England would make hay at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium as the two teams walked out in 30 degrees heat. But we didn’t quite expect what actually happened, and we’re still rubbing our eyes!
Harry Kane’s late goal against Tunisia got England off to a flying start to FIFA 2018 and now, for the moment, they are absolutely soaring.
There was just one change in the line-ups as Ruben Loftus-Cheek came in for the injured Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling keeping his place; while Hernan Dario Gomez kept faith with the 11 fighters who lost 3-0 to Belgium.
He may regret it after this performance, but one thing’s for sure: the FIFA 2018 odds on the Three Lions are on the fall.
Highlights
Panama survived for just eight minutes before the carnage began. England struck after Kieran Trippier won a corner down the right flank. Panama defend with some conviction, with their own rules at times. And while Gabriel Gomez held on to Harry Maguire with both arms, his team-mates had forgotten about John Stones who headed Trippier’s corner in with a powerful header into the bottom corner.
Trippier made a great start to World Cup life, crossing with menace against Tunisia is fast becoming a fixture in this young England team.
And on 20 minutes, it was Trippier who started the move which brought England’s second. He lofted a beautiful ball through to Jesse Lingard who was brought down by Fidel Escobar as he prepared to shoot, and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. As the Panama players delayed and attempted to put Kane off, the England skipper kept his steely gaze on Jaime Penedo in the goal. When the time came, he almost broke the net with a blistering strike into the top left-hand corner. You won’t see a better penalty than that this summer…unstoppable.
Jesse Lingard was a livewire in the first half, and it was a beauty when he got his reward on 36 minutes. The Manchester United man exchanged passes with Sterling and then curled an absolute cracker into the corner of the net, giving Penedo no chance. And poor Penedo was beaten again soon after when he saved from a Sterling effort at point-blank range, only to see Stones follow up for the fourth and his second.
It seems Panama are slow learners, and Anibal Godoy couldn’t keep his hands off Kane when another corner flew in. When the England skipper was presented with another penalty chance, he hammered it into the exact same spot. It was 5-0 and it was only half-time! It was exactly what England and Panama deserved.
The second half began relatively quietly and, this time, Panama survived for a quarter of an hour. The sixth was Harry Kane’s third, but this time there was a huge slice of luck attached. Loftus-Cheek cut inside and his shot bounced off Kane’s heel to wrong-foot Penedo and bounce into the net. That was enough for Gareth Southgate and he took his captain off to a standing ovation.
Roman Torres missed a sitter at the far post, and then Panama got their goal on 77 minutes when Felipe Baloy was given all the space he needed to latch on to a forward ball and poke the ball home. The Panama fans went mad to their credit, but there was little that could spoil England’s day.
Key statistics
Well, where do we start? It’s the first time England have scored four or more in the World Cup since the Three Lions won it in 1966. Is it too early for England fans to start dreaming? Probably!
And it’s only the fifth time in World Cup history that any team has scored five in the first half, the last occasion being Germany’s destruction of Brazil at World Cup 2014.
Harry Kane has scored in a fifth successive game for the Three Lions and in all the matches he has started as captain, ever since he first took the armband against Scotland in June 2017.
He’s also the first England player to score four or more in the group stages of the World Cup and is now in the lead for the Golden Boot with five.
What a player!
What’s next?
Qualification in Group G is well and truly settled now, and England face Belgium next Thursday at the Kaliningrad Stadium to decide the top spot. At the same time, Panama will play Tunisia in Saransk for the prize of avoiding bottom place.
The way FIFA 2018 results are going elsewhere, finishing second in the group may bring the perceived advantage of avoiding Brazil or Germany in the quarter-final. By the time they meet on Thursday, Belgium and England will both know if that’s the case, and that might make for an interesting match.
But the way they’ve attacked their opening games, I think they’ll both go for the win.
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