England 6-1 Panama: Harry Kane nets hat-trick as Three Lions create history in Nizhny Novgorod
- Kane moves first in race for Golden Boot with five goals
- England book place in last 16
- Felipe Baloy scored Panama's first ever World Cup goal
England secured their biggest ever World Cup victory on Sunday afternoon, beating Panama 6-1 in Nizhny Novgorod to book their place in the last 16.
Harry Kane became the third player after Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker to score a finals hat-trick for the Three Lions, while John Stones added a brace of his own. Jesse Lingard also scored with a fine long-range effort that was England's first proper open play goal of the tournament.
England have never before scored more than four goals in a World Cup match, and even Felipe Baloy's late consolation strike will not take away from the history made by Gareth Southgate's side.
Panama started brightly, Anibal Godoy wasting a fine chance to put his nation ahead when he wildly shot over after being played through on goal. Yoel Barcenas also went close a few moments later, but his curling effort flashed just wide of Jordan Pickford's far post, with the keeper at full stretch.
Despite these chances in the final third, Panama were amateurish at the back, with Stones opening the scoring with a free header from a corner.
Kane then grabbed his first of the game, from the penalty spot, after Fidel Escobar and Gabriel Torres pulled Lingard down inside the area, before Lingard himself netted from outside the box with a stunning finish from outside the box after a lovely give-and-go with Raheem Sterling.
Stones added England's fourth four minutes later, after a brilliantly worked free-kick routine. Kieran Trippier laid the set-piece off to Jordan Henderson, who curled a first-time ball to the far post. Kane headed the ball back across the face of goal, only to see Sterling head straight at goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, but the rebound fell straight to Stones, who headed past Penedo into the roof of the net.
Just minutes later, the lead was extended again, with Kane scoring a perfect replica of his opening penalty, after being bundled to the ground, to make it 5-0 at the break.
Understandably, England turned down the pace after the restart, but it took less than ten minutes into the second half for Kane to complete his hat-trick - in the most fortuitous of circumstances. Ruben Loftus-Cheek worked his way into space on the edge of the Panama area, and his weak shot hit the back of Kane's foot and looped over Penedo and into the back of the Panama net.
Michael Murillo did threaten to pull one back for Panama, but Pickford did well to deny the wide player after a well-worked move saw him through on goal.
Torres should have scored after a cut-back fell to him at the far post, yet he poked the ball slightly wide, before Felipe Baloy made up for Torres' error by netting Panama's first ever World Cup goal when he broke England's offside trap from a free-kick and slotted the ball into the corner of Pickford's goal.
Baloy made history by scoring this debut goal for Panama, but England were the real history makers in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday. On to Belgium on Thursday, where the Three Lions will look to secure top spot in Group G.
STAR MAN
As in England's World Cup opener, the defeat of Tunisia, Kieran Trippier put in a truly superb performance down the right flank.
The wing-back was challenged defensively even less in this match than he was against Tunisia, but that meant he could dominate the right flank when England were on the attack. He sent in the corner from which Stones scored the opening goal, and was a constant menace with some excellent crosses from open play. Trippier has also developed into a fine set-piece taker, and Gareth Southgate has utilised this talent remarkably well at the tournament.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Any one of the goals could be regarded as the finest moment of the match - even Panama's debut strike at a World Cup finals - but Kane's hat-trick finish will go down in history. He was ridiculously lucky to score in the manner he did, as Loftus-Cheek's shot flicked of Kane's boot into the back of the net, but that strike made Kane the first England player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup since Gary Lineker in 1986.
LINE-UPS
England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier (Rose 70'), Loftus-Cheek, Henderson, Lingard (Delph 63'), Young, Sterling, Kane (Vardy 63')
Subs not used: Butland, Dier, Welbeck, Cahill, Jones, Rashford, Alli, Alexander-Arnold, Pope
Panama: Penedo, Murillo, Roman Torres, Escobar, Davis, Barcenas (Arroyo 69'), Cooper, Gomez (Baloy 69'), Godoy (Avila 62'), Jose Luis Rodriguez, Perez
Subs not used: Calderon, Cummings, Gabriel Torres, Diaz, Machado, Pimentel, Ovalle, Tejada, Alex Rodriguez
GROUP G TABLE
Latest World Cup news
talkSPORT are with listeners all day and all night at this year’s 2018 FIFA World Cup™ with over 800 hours of World Cup content and all 64 games live across the talkSPORT network.