If you were expecting England to continue their long standing tradition of flaming out of major tournaments in this World Cup, the Three Lions put the world on notice that this young group is not your father’s England, or even the England of Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard etc, by taking care of business and then some Sunday in a 6-1 rout of Panama, ensuring their place in the Knockout Stages with a game to spare.
Harry Kane led England with a hat trick and John Stones added a brace for his first two international goals as the English dominated the game from the get-go, leaving nothing to chance against overmatched Panama. Three thoughts on a lopsided affair in Nizhny Novogrod.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/FIFA
England is for Real – We’ve seen England go bust after being name dropped among the tournament favorites time after time after time, that the trendy pick now is to pick AGAINST them. But through the two games they’ve played so far, this group of youngsters is showing that they are determined to flip the narrative on its head. After a late winner against Tunisia, something we’re not accustomed to, the Three Lions came out and dominated on the day against an over matched Panama side. Five first half goals led to Panama Coach Hernan Dario Gomez at one point asking Gareth Southgate to call off the dogs. This English team is playing with swagger, something that one doesn’t normally associate with them, something that can only grow if they can defeat Belgium on Thursday and top the Group.
They Are What We Thought They Are – Panama was an extreme long shot to do much of anything in this tournament and now find themselves facing Tunisia with nothing but pride and a chance to end what was a remarkable run on a high note. Los Canaleros were over matched from the beginning and any hope that they would be able to CONCACAF the game up went out the window by the time John Stones opened the scoring for England just eight minutes in. Panama was able to bring their fans some joy late when Felipe Baloy scored in the 78th minute, sending one of the best fan bases in CONCACAF into a pandemonium that surpasses even their highest highs from Qualifying.
Is Fair Play Fair? – England heads into their final game against Belgium tied with the Red Devils atop the standings, but also on goal differential, goals scored, and every other tiebreaker down the line until they get to the seventh tiebreaker, Fair Play Points. Currently England is ahead of Belgium, having only amassed two yellow cards to Belgium’s thee. Much better than flipping a coin or “drawing lots,” which is the eighth and final tiebreaker, it adds an interesting layer of bizarreness to this match, as instead of keeping one eye on the other game in the group, we’ll be keeping an eye on the referee’s book, as that may be what determines who finishes atop the group.
Panama
England
