Harry Kane got a hat-trick, John Stones grabbed a brace and Jesse Lingard played excellently and scored a gorgeous goal as England ran riot
Sun 24 Jun 2018 12.07 EDT
First published on Sun 24 Jun 2018 06.59 EDT- Full time: England 6-1 Panama
- GOAL! England 6-1 Panama (Baloy 78)
- GOAL! England 6-0 Panama (Kane 63) - HARRY KANE HAT-TRICK!
- Half time: England 5-0 Panama
- GOAL! England 5-0 Panama (Kane 45+1 pen)
- PENALTY TO ENGLAND!
- GOAL! England 4-0 Panama (Stones 40)
- GOAL! England 3-0 Panama (Lingard 36)
- GOAL! England 2-0 Panama (Kane 22 pen)
- PENALTY TO ENGLAND!
- GOAL! England 1-0 Panama (Stones 8)
- Preamble
- Team news
Live feed
- Full time: England 6-1 Panama
- GOAL! England 6-1 Panama (Baloy 78)
- GOAL! England 6-0 Panama (Kane 63) - HARRY KANE HAT-TRICK!
- Half time: England 5-0 Panama
- GOAL! England 5-0 Panama (Kane 45+1 pen)
- PENALTY TO ENGLAND!
- GOAL! England 4-0 Panama (Stones 40)
- GOAL! England 3-0 Panama (Lingard 36)
- GOAL! England 2-0 Panama (Kane 22 pen)
- PENALTY TO ENGLAND!
- GOAL! England 1-0 Panama (Stones 8)
- Preamble
- Team news
And with that, I’m done. It was a fine performance, and an emphatic win. England could have done with scoring one goal less, or conceding one goal more, and thus protecting coveted second place in the group, but overall you’ve got to say it’ll do. Bye!
Some more player reaction:
It’s half-time in Japan v Senegal, and it’s tied at 1-1. Anyone’s game/group/tournament.
Pele’s heard that someone’s getting a lot of attention for scoring a World Cup hat-trick, and he wants some of it for himself:
Here are our player ratings. There’s a 2/10 in there (not an Englishman).
Harry Kane, as official man of the match, has held a press conference. This is what he said:
About winning the golden boot:
There’s going to be a lot of talk about it but there’s a long way to go. We’ve got some of the best players in the world scoring goals, doing well. For me, it’s about the wins. And we’ve got another big game on Thursday to try and finish top. Hopefully I can score more goals and help my team.
On today’s performance:
I’m extremely proud. We’re proud of each other, the way we played, the discipline, the hard work. And we had fun out there as well, which is important. It could have been a tough game. We started well, we’ve been working hard on set pieces and they came together as well. We’ve got to enjoy this. It’s not every year that we go through after two games. We’ll enjoy it now and then focus on trying to finish on top.
On the repeated delays before his first penalty, and his fluky third:
The first penalty, I have a routine for penalties. I think I put the ball down about three times. It was about going through the same routine, picking a corner and sticking with it. The third was one of the luckiest goals of my career. As a striker sometimes you go through spells when you’re scoring, and other times it’s not so good. It’s been going my way so hopefully that will continue.
On Panama’s occasionally rough tacticis:
We knew it would be an aggressive game, they’d do everything they could to stop us. I thought the discipline was really good from us, we didn’t get involved in anything silly, we made sure the ref was aware of holding and pulling. And we got what we deserved. I’m very proud of the lads for that.
And on how he would feel to be rested for the final group game:
That’s the manager’s decision. Obviously I want to play, I want to continue my form. It’s still important that we finish top. I think we’re ahead by a yellow card. We’ve just got to go and try to win the game.
He’s also asked to choose a song for Brazilian television. He goes with One Kiss by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa.
What you’d really like at this stage, I’d imagine, is five talking points on the England game. Well, your luck’s in.
Senegal have just gone a goal up against Japan to leap to the top of Group H, after the Japan goalkeeper, Kawashima, punched the ball straight into Sadio Mane’s knee, from where it rebounded into the net. For all that it was a little unfortunate, it was first and foremost an absolute howler.
I see that there were two Englishmen who attended today’s game as official “Fifa Legends”: Sol Campbell and 23-cap, never-played-in-a-major-tournament Wes Brown.
I’ve only just seen this, possibly the greatest thing that’s happened at the World Cup since that Zaire free kick in 1974: Panama trying to score on the counter-attack while England celebrated a goal.
News just in: England scored the best goal of all time!
Now at No2:
I have statistics! England had seven shots on target in that match, and scored six goals. Panama had two shots on target, and scored one. Both conceded 13 free kicks.
Kyle Walker attempted 109 passes, and succeeded with 104. In the first half, Panama’s entire team attempted 155 passes, and succeeded with 134.
Harry Kane attempted 12 passes, succeeded with 10, and was passed to 15 times. The only players to attempt fewer passes were substitutes.
Harry Kane has been tweeting:
Here are the best pictures of today’s game:
This is how Panamanians treat players who have just been thrashed 6-1. In brief, pretty well:
As it stands, if all groups finish as they are today, one half of the draw will contain France, Brazil, England, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Nigeria (potentially Argentina) and Senegal. The other will contain Spain, Croatia, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland and Belgium. England will have the benefit of knowing how all but one of the groups have concluded before they play their final game, but if they remain unchanged they must surely choose a route towards the semi-finals that would see them play Japan and the winner of Mexico v Switzerland, over Colombia and then the winner of Brazil v Germany.
This is a good picture of celebrating Englishmen:
Japan will shortly be playing Senegal, and you can follow the match either in English:
Or - get this - in Japanese!
Gareth Southgate has answered some questions:
I didn’t particularly like the performance. Well, I didn’t like the start, and I didn’t like the goal at the end, but I guess the bits in the middle were pretty good. I think we were a little bit anxious at the beginning. We played some really good stuff after 35, 40 minutes. And second half is difficult. We talked about the importance of one more goal to be top of the group, which is why the goal at the end is disappointing. But it’s really rewarding to see how well they’re playing, and how much they’re enjoying their football.
[Did he really want to be top of the group?] You don’t know but you’d rather be in control of it than not. Big moments for Jess Lingard today, of course great for the captain to get his hat-trick. And also our set plays were a real threat, which was pleasing to see.
[On his team’s discipline, in the face of some provocation] We talked about that being a challenge in this game. We said before the game, no more yellow cards. That was a key part of the second half, definitely.
[Will he change his team for the Belgium game?] We want to keep momentum, so we’ll have to have a think about the team we want to put out. There’s an opportunity as well that players that need a match, but also we want to keep winning football matches. It’s a nice decision to have.
And Ruben Loftus-Cheek:
Really, really happy with the performance from the boys. To win 6-1 in the World Cup is fantastic. I’m delighted with that. I think we want to put on a good performance for the fans, but also for ourselves.
[On Harry Kane] For such a young captain he’s so vocal. I think everyone respects him massively, what he’s done for Tottenham and bringing it in for England.
We’re working on set pieces a lot, and to see it coming out in the games when we prepare so much for it. It’s such a big factor in games, we put in so much work and we’re glad that it keeps coming out on the pitch.
And Ashley Young:
It was very hot out there. Maybe they’re used to it more, but I think the confidence we had coming into the game showed, especially in the first half. It could have been a nearly perfect performance. It’s disappointing to concede, but takes nothing away from the performance we put in. It’s a squad game and everyone’s got to put in a performance, and I think everyone did that today.
The togetherness I’ve seen is incredible. Off the pitch everybody mixes with each other. Everybody wants the ball, nobody shies away from the ball. We’ve got to keep on doing that, keep showing our confidence and keep playing the way we have. We’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and keep working hard in training. This could be the start of something good.
Jesse Lingard has a chat now:
I mean, it’s an amazing feeling. Even better that we won and are top of the table. I thrive in that role. Basically around the lads there’s a great team spirit at the moment. With the squad we’ve got and the confidence flowing I don’t see why [we can’t go on and win the whole thing], but at the moment we’re still learning and we’ll take it game by game. There’s a lot of positivity, so we’ll take it into the Belgium game.
This is how the ranking of teams will be decided if they finish level on points in their group:
5. The ranking of each team in each group shall be determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) greater number of points obtained in the fair play conduct of the teams based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:
– yellow card: minus 1 point
– indirect red card: minus 3 points (as a result of a second yellow card)
– direct red card: minus 4 points
– yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
Only one of the above deductions shall be applied to a player in a single match;h) drawing of lots by the Fifa Organising Committee.
And John Stones as well:
Not something I thought I’d do at the start of the day. It’s great to get through. I remember four years ago, knowing how hard the lads had worked. This time round, playing, we wanted to do the country proud and get through to the next step and see where we can go.
I think to score my first goals for England, that was something special, especially at the World Cup. We defended so well and dominated the match, to not get a clean sheet was a bit disappointing. It’s something to take into the next game I suppose, and hopefully I can get a few more goals from set pieces.
Hello world!
Harry Kane has had a little post-match chat.
To achieve anything in life you have to believe. There’s still a lot of hard work to go. It’s a big difference. We’re a bit disappointed to concede a goal at the end. We’ll go into the [Begium] game looking to win, of course. Let’s see what happens.
Full time: England 6-1 Panama
Peep peep! England have smashed their record for the biggest World Cup win. It was 3-0; it’s now 6-1. It could have been more, but they eased up in the second half after leading 5-0 at the break. Harry Kane scored England’s first World Cup hat-trick since 1986. I have to jump straight into cricket mode, but Simon Burnton will bring you all the post-match reaction. Thanks for your company, bye.
90 min Four minutes of added time.
89 min “Look at the link again about fair play separation,” says James Hurle. “England and Belgium start on 0 points and then earn minus points for each fair play contravention. Team with the highest score (least minuses) tops group.”
Ah yes, my mistake. That’ll teach me to sneer at Fifa!
88 min “Rob, very disappointed to see you use such incendiary language to describe the Panamanian football team,” says David. “There are plenty of English clubs that play an agricultural brand of football and have done for years on end, but words like ‘filthy’ are generally not used by journalists to describe them. Is it easier to use crass language (which unfortunately has a racial association) about a team we will never hear about again?”
I use the word ‘filthy’ all the time to describe teams who boot people up in the air. I quite like this Panama team, and I’ve always guiltily enjoyed football filth. Sorry not to be a racist.