Captain Kane scores hat-trick as England thrash Panama
The second game of Englands' was against Central America country Panama. Panama secured their place at the World Cup at the expense of USA and featured players who were retiring at the end of their world cup campaign so for Panama to play England that was the highest point of their careers. The game was taking place in Nizhny Novgorod a city that has only been open to visitors for a few years as it was closed off to them as it was the home to the military factories that built the tanks and weapons for the Soviet Red Army. For England, there was only one change to the team that beat Tunisia which was Ruben Loftus-Cheek replacing Dele Alli. A win for England meant that England Belgium would qualify for the knockout rounds and their match in Kaliningrad would be a battle for the top spot in the group.
England started the game off strong and got rewarded for that with a goal of a corner delivered in by Kieran Trippier and headed in comfortably by John Stones with 8 minutes in the game gone. Things, then got better for England, when the referee gave them a penalty, which took the two minutes to do because of Panama complaining to the referee. Then Harry Kane converted by shooting the ball into the top left corner with enough power to beat even the best goalkeeper in the world on another day. Then Lingard made it a more convincing win when he top-binned it in the 36th minute to make it 3-0 with less than ten minutes before half-time.
Then England pulled off a free-kick play straight from the training ground. Trippier sent in the free-kick then Kane headed the ball into the path of Raheem Sterling which was saved by the Panama goalkeeper only for it to fall into the way of John Stones to score his second goal of the match. The perfect first half even better for England as they got another penalty when Kane was wrestled to the floor. Kane stepped up and shot it in the same corner and made it 5-0 England on the stroke of half-time. The mood at half-time was good England but maybe keep an eye on Belgium as Panama was trying to be very physical with England.
The second half was a quieter affair compared to the first half. Kane scored his hat-trick off a lucky deflection from Ruben Loftus-Cheeks attempt, which was confirmed by VAR as they decided that Kane was not offside as Loftus-Cheek initially struck the shot. That goal made him the third England player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup. The other two were Gary Lineker against Poland in 1986 and famously Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup final. Panama gave their fans who were still in a party atmosphere despite the score a goal to celebrate as Felipe Baloy scored in his second-to-last ever game in international football. After that, it was a comfortable ending to the game for England and Kane got the man of the match award again.
When the final whistle England broke some records. England became the fifth team to score 5 goals in a before half-time in a World Cup match, the last time it happened was when Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 in the previous world cup semi-final. The first one was England's most significant ever victory at a major tournament. Two games into the tournament England have scored the second-highest total goals in the World Cup the highest was 1966. Harry Kane is currently the highest goal-scorer of the whole competition with Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo at 4 goals. Next up for England is the battle for the top spot in the group as England and Belgium on Thursday in a fight for the top spot in the group as both teams have qualified for the knockout stages.
I'll be back with the match report on England vs Belgium after the game.
England started the game off strong and got rewarded for that with a goal of a corner delivered in by Kieran Trippier and headed in comfortably by John Stones with 8 minutes in the game gone. Things, then got better for England, when the referee gave them a penalty, which took the two minutes to do because of Panama complaining to the referee. Then Harry Kane converted by shooting the ball into the top left corner with enough power to beat even the best goalkeeper in the world on another day. Then Lingard made it a more convincing win when he top-binned it in the 36th minute to make it 3-0 with less than ten minutes before half-time.
Then England pulled off a free-kick play straight from the training ground. Trippier sent in the free-kick then Kane headed the ball into the path of Raheem Sterling which was saved by the Panama goalkeeper only for it to fall into the way of John Stones to score his second goal of the match. The perfect first half even better for England as they got another penalty when Kane was wrestled to the floor. Kane stepped up and shot it in the same corner and made it 5-0 England on the stroke of half-time. The mood at half-time was good England but maybe keep an eye on Belgium as Panama was trying to be very physical with England.
The second half was a quieter affair compared to the first half. Kane scored his hat-trick off a lucky deflection from Ruben Loftus-Cheeks attempt, which was confirmed by VAR as they decided that Kane was not offside as Loftus-Cheek initially struck the shot. That goal made him the third England player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup. The other two were Gary Lineker against Poland in 1986 and famously Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup final. Panama gave their fans who were still in a party atmosphere despite the score a goal to celebrate as Felipe Baloy scored in his second-to-last ever game in international football. After that, it was a comfortable ending to the game for England and Kane got the man of the match award again.
When the final whistle England broke some records. England became the fifth team to score 5 goals in a before half-time in a World Cup match, the last time it happened was when Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 in the previous world cup semi-final. The first one was England's most significant ever victory at a major tournament. Two games into the tournament England have scored the second-highest total goals in the World Cup the highest was 1966. Harry Kane is currently the highest goal-scorer of the whole competition with Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo at 4 goals. Next up for England is the battle for the top spot in the group as England and Belgium on Thursday in a fight for the top spot in the group as both teams have qualified for the knockout stages.
I'll be back with the match report on England vs Belgium after the game.
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