What do Costa Rica, Panama early exits say about US soccer?
- by Emily Walters
- in Sport
- — Jun 26, 2018
In his position, I would make maybe one or two changes and bring in, say, Danny Rose at left wing-back and Marcus Rashford into attacking midfield. But the bits in the middle were pretty good though. But it's really rewarding to see how well they're playing, and how much they're enjoying their football. "We had fun out there", said current tournament top scorer Kane, calling his third "one of the luckiest goals of my life".
"To concede five goals in the first half, two penalties, two set-pieces, where England were very, very effective, well, what we did was try to avoid a bigger catastrophe".
A Harry Kane hat-trick, a brace from John Stones and a spectacular Jesse Lingard goal saw Panama slip to a 6-0 deficit.
An interesting outcome has eventuated in this group, with both Belgium and England already qualified for the knockout stages ahead of their meeting in the final group game. The victor of the group, therefore, will be settled when they face each other in Kaliningrad on Thursday.
"You don't get many opportunities to play in a game like that for England".
For years England have tried - and failed - to copy the styles of successful European national teams, but now Gareth Southgate appears to have found a way to replicate the intensity of England's best Premier League teams.
Peter Schmeichel has lauded Harry Kane's man of the match performance in England's 6-1 thrashing of Panama in their World Cup Group G meeting in Nizhny Novgorod.
And yet, there is not a lot more that anyone could have asked of England through its first two matches in Russian Federation, a 2-1 win over Tunisia when the team was sharp everywhere except in front of the opposing goal and Sunday's defenestration of Los Canaleros that will fill England with confidence as it confronts the World Cup crucible.
More news: Prince William honours Holocaust victims during Jerusalem tripBelgium and England - who meet in Kaliningrad on Thursday to battle it out for top spot in Group G - both have six points after two games and are level on goal difference and goals scored. In short, England never usually thrash minnows. Largely solid at the back and industrious in midfield, they found the scoring touch, and it will have pleased Southgate that the goals came from all areas. England completed 25 passes in the buildup, the most in any World Cup match since 1966, according to Opta.
A Stones header from a well-worked free-kick routine and a second Kane penalty gave them a 5-0 lead going into the break.
The Tottenham striker bagged his third after a 61st minute shot by Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit his foot and bounced over Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.
"First time in a long time since we've seen a hat-trick from an England player in the World Cup, absolutely delighted for Harry and the team", tweeted Hurst.
Kane took a seat on the bench after that score.
The most goals in a game is 12, when a quarter final between Austria and Switzerland in 1954 finished 7-5. "We'll go into the last game looking to win, of course".
"I'm definitely sad about the final score but also happy that Panama scored their first goal in a World Cup, especially because it was a veteran like Felipe Baloy who scored the goal".
Tipped by many United fans to make an impact in Russia, Lingard certainly did that and more against Panama, with the crowning glory being his sumptuous strike, which is undoubtedly up there among the best goals of the tournament so far.
