FIFA World Cup 2018: Harry scores thrice as England humiliates Panama by 6-1

Venue: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

England – Panama

6 – 1

Ball possession

England – Panama

60% – 40%

England – Starting XI (3-1-4-2)

J.Pickford, K.Walker, J.Stones, H.Maguire, J. Henderson, K.Trippier, A.Young, R.Loftus-Cheek, J.Lingard, R.Sterling, H.Kane

Tunisia – Starting XI (4-1-4-1)

J.Penedo, E.Davis, F.Escobar, R.Torres, M.Murillo, G.Gomez, J.L.Roderiguez, A.Godoy, A.Cooper, E.Barcenas, B.Perez

Story before the match

There is no history of England meeting Panama at any stage, so this is their first one-on-one match against each other. If we talk about England, then they have an unbeaten history in their last four world cup match against CONCACAF nations. Interestingly, Panama is the 38th opponent of England in the record of the world cup, out of 37, England has lost only against USA (1950), Spain (1950), Uruguay (1954), Hungary (1962) and Italy (1990).

First Half: England had the best time of their life

It was a holy half for England as they scored fiver in the first half which is now written in the record books. According to the book, England had never scored more than three goals in the first half, but today they changed the history. It started with the first and early blow for Panama at the 8^th minute of the action when John stones got perfectly timed assistance from Trippier around the corner, and he planted his header to celebrate their first goal. The captain himself searching for a right time to make a move and he got it after a penalty awarded to the English side, Kane in his style showed his experience by aiming the top left corner. And now the story begins with back-to-back easy scoring. At the 36^th minute of the match, Jesse Lingard, the one who got injured in the 5 min of the game, scored a stunner, which was accurately assisted by Raheem Sterling. Lingard curled an excellent effort which was unstoppable for the Panamian goalkeeper. Just after 4 minutes, John Stones came up with another hammer to crush the confidence of Panama. He scored the 4^th goal of the halftime which became a record. It was a free kick routine as Trippier led the kick and passed it to Henderson who gave it to Harry, captain believed sterling, but he didn’t even manage to touch the ball then stones give it a header and scored an outstanding goal for England. Later on, the Fifth and the last one of this half came at the 45+1’ minute, when Captain Harry once again got the way to score a penalty to become the top scorer of the tournament, and he exactly does the same. Kane once again aimed the top left corner of the goalpost, and he scored a beauty to raise the bar for the future!

Stats of the First Half

England Panama

7 Shots 3

6 Shots On-target 0

60% Possession 40%

7 Fouls 6

2 Corner 0

1 Yellow card 2

Second half: Panama scored their first goal of the tournament or maybe last

There comes a time when you have to forget the past and move for the brighter future, same happened for Panama but it was not easy for them as Kane once again came up to crush their hope to even score a goal. It was a humiliation of Panama where they got beaten by six back-to-back goals which can kill anyone from inside. At the 62^nd minute of the second half, Kane notched his third for the day from the edge of the box. Now, 6-0 is the score, later on, Panama had it all, but they decided to score at least one goal. Their continuous attack helped them to score their first goal of the World cup. Felipe Baloy did the work via free kick assisted by Avila. Baloy sweetly teased Pickford by attempting on the bottom corner of the goalpost.