25 June,2018 11:41 AM IST | Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia) | AFP
England skipper Harry Kane celebrates a goal against Panama at Nizhny Novgorod yesterday. Pic/AFP
England recorded their biggest ever World Cup finals win by thrashing an ill-disciplined Panama 6-1 to breeze through to the knockout stage after two games.
A hat-trick from captain Harry Kane - which means he is now the leading scorer in the tournament with five goals - two from John Stones, his first ever in an England shirt, and a beauty from Jesse Lingard completed the crushing victory. The result also confirmed Belgium's qualification for the knockout stage and means Panama exit the tournament alongside Tunisia.
Southgate
England coach Gareth Southgate was keeping his feet firmly on the ground declaring "I didn't particularly like the performance". With a grin Southgate explained to the BBC: "I'm being hyper-critical, but I didn't like the start, I didn't like the goal at the end. The bits in the middle were pretty good though!" Southgate said.
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Asked about possible changes to his XI to face Belgium, Southgate commented: "I want to keep the momentum, we have to think about the team we want to put out, it's an opportunity for players who need a match who haven't played for a while but on the other hand we want to keep winning.
"It's a nice decision to have!" Reflecting on a record World Cup win for England - their previous best result was 3-0 - he added: "I was a bit anxious at the start, they [Panama] had six at the back and three in middle, but once we worked that out I thought we played some really good stuff for 35 minutes."
Southgate's main gripe was his defence allowing Felipe Baloy to score Panama's first ever World Cup goal in the 78th minute. "At half-time we talked about one more goal to be top of the group, that's why the goal at the end was disappointing," he said. "It was a big moment for Lingard and great for the captain [Kane] to score a hat-trick, that way he didn't have the hump when I took him off!"
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