Bellingham stars as England clinch prime spot

Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane scored second-half objectives as England obtained the job carried out in opposition to Panama on the World Cup on Saturday, a 2-0 victory on the MetLife Stadium taking Thomas Tuchel’s crew into the final 32 as Group L winners.

Actual Madrid star Bellingham obtained on the tip of a Bukayo Saka nook to interrupt the impasse simply after the hour mark on a soggy day in New Jersey.

It was largely uninspiring stuff as much as that time, however the opening purpose had been coming and Bellingham then crossed for Kane to go within the second halfway by the second half.

That was Kane’s third purpose of the event after he netted a brace within the opening 4-2 win over Croatia, and the England captain has now moved away from Gary Lineker as his nation’s all-time main World Cup scorer with 11.

Three of these objectives got here when England thrashed Panama 6-1 on the 2018 event in Russia, however the Three Lions didn’t have issues fairly really easy this time in opposition to hard-working however restricted opponents.

Questions had been maybe being requested about England’s World Cup prospects an hour into this match, following the goalless draw in opposition to Ghana in Boston final Tuesday.

They haven’t but reached the identical heights once more as of their victory in opposition to Croatia, however England advance to the subsequent spherical on prime of the group with seven factors out of a doable 9.

Topping the part is necessary, because it means they keep away from a doable conflict with Spain within the final 16.

As an alternative they are going to head to Atlanta for a tie subsequent Wednesday, July 1 in opposition to a third-placed crew. Win that, and they are going to be off to Mexico Metropolis within the final 16, probably to play Mexico, within the Azteca Stadium the place they misplaced to Diego Maradona’s Argentina in 1986.

Tuchel is not going to be getting carried away considering that far forward, and there may be certainly so much for England nonetheless to do earlier than they’re actually able to tackle and beat the event’s different heavyweights.

That mentioned, it’s unlikely they are going to come up in opposition to any extra sides who play with such a low defensive block as Ghana did, and as Panama did for a lot of this contest.

The Central American nation, ranked thirty fourth on the planet, competed nicely however created few probabilities and have nonetheless by no means received some extent on the event.

They misplaced all three group video games at their debut World Cup in 2018, and exit after shedding all three matches this time — all with out scoring, with this end result following 1-0 reverses in opposition to Ghana and Croatia.

Rashford to the fore

Tuchel made 5 modifications to his line-up following the Ghana encounter, notably selecting to relaxation Declan Rice from the midfield. Marcus Rashford and Saka obtained their first begins of the World Cup on the wings.

Rashford pressured a superb save from Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera contained in the opening 10 minutes, and later headed over an Elliot Anderson cross earlier than curling a free-kick simply previous in first-half stoppage time.

Panama did additionally threaten as soon as within the opening interval, when Jordan Pickford needed to get all the way down to cease a Jose Luis Rodriguez shot at his close to put up.

England had been pedestrian earlier than the break, however the match began to open up for them following the restart.

Jose Cordoba almost pressured an personal purpose when his clearance got here off teammate Andres Andrade and went narrowly over, and Mosquera then denied Kane.

A purpose was starting to really feel inevitable and it arrived on 62 minutes as Bellingham held off Jorge Gutierrez at Saka’s nook to show the ball in.

That was his second purpose of the competitors, and he then turned supplier for Kane to verify of the win.

Jose Fajardo then thought he had a late comfort for Panama, however his effort was disallowed for offside.

It has in all probability been England’s least outstanding group-stage exhibiting at a World Cup since 2014, after they went out within the first spherical. This time, nonetheless, they’re safely by.