NIZHNY NOVGOROD, KOMPAS.com - Inggris berhasil menang telak atas Panama dengan skor akhir 6-1 pada babak penyisihan Grup G Piala Dunia 2018 di Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Minggu (24/6/2018).
Kapten timnas Inggris, Harry Kane, mencetak hat-trick untuk pertama kalinya pada Piala Dunia 2018.
Selain itu, Kane juga menjadi pemain kedua yang berhasil mencetak gol pada dua laga pertama Piala Dunia setelah Ron Flowers pada tahun 1962.
Baca juga: Argentina Main Kotor, Striker Kroasia Ogah Minta Jersey Lionel Messi
Berikut 5 fakta menarik pertandingan antara Inggris melawan Panama pada babak penyisihan Grup G Piala Dunia 2018:
2 - Harry Kane menjadi pemain kedua yang cetak gol pada dua laga pertama Piala Dunia setelah Ron Flowers pada tahun 1962.
Selain itu, Kane juga menjadi pemain pertama yang mencetak gol dalam dua pertandingan pertamanya pada Piala Dunia.
3 - Harry Kane menjadi kapten pertama timnas Inggris yang mencetak tiga gol dalam satu laga Piala Dunia.
5 - Timnas Inggris menjadi tim yang berhasil mencetak lima gol pada Piala Dunia sebelum paruh waktu.
2018: Inggris (5) - Panama (6-1)
2014: Jerman (5) - Brasil (7-1)
1974: Yugoslavia (6) - DR Congo (Zaire) (9-0)
1974: Polandia (5) - Haiti (7-0)
1954: Austria (5) - Swiss (7-5)
40 - Harry Kane mencetak tiga gol dalam kurun waktu 40 menit untuk Inggris. Gabriel Batistuta menjadi yang tercepat mencetak tiga gol dalam waktu 10 menit pada saat melawan Jamaika tahun 1998.
2002 - Penalti Harry Kane menjadi gol pertama yang dicetak pemain Inggris pada Piala Dunia sejak 2002, ketika David Beckham mencetak gol dari titik putih saat melawan Argentina.
2002 - Harry Kane's penalty was the first converted by an England player at the World Cup since 2002, when David Beckham scored from the spot against Argentina. Sweet. #ENGPAN #ENG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/7kgeAxqhFL
CLOSE USA TODAY Sports' Martin Rogers takes a look at the World Cup's brand spankin' new replay system. USA TODAY Sports
England's Harry Kane kicks a penalty to score his team's fifth goal during the group G match against Panama at the World Cup. (Photo: Matthias Schrader, AP)
MOSCOW — England was outstandingly good at the World Cup on Sunday - but not outstandingly smart. On the back of an extraordinary first-half scoring blitz in Nizhny Novgorod, it destroyed Panama with five unanswered goals, but should have left it at that.
A deflected 62nd-minute effort from Harry Kane, which should have been disallowed for offside, gave England a sixth goal. Although Panama grabbed one of its own for a final 6-1 margin, Kane's seemingly meaningless strike could have a distinct impact on the Three Lions' World Cup journey because Group 3 of this tournament is set up strangely.
Belgium and England are now identically tied at the top of it, and have both secured safe passage to the round of 16, while Panama and Tunisia are both eliminated. Both have six points. Both have a goal differential of +6, both have scored eight goals in the process.
Yet there is likely to be a significant advantage in finishing second in the group as opposed to winning it, once things shake out in the draw for the knockout round.
Both England and Belgium will face a team from Group H, which still has a long way to go before being resolved in the round of 16. Yet none of those teams, either Japan or Senegal (both on three points after one game) or Poland and Colombia (zero points), would give much reason for fear based off pedigree and form.
Assuming England and Belgium were both able to progress from there, then things get interesting. Because the most likely quarterfinal opponent for the team that wins Group G would be Brazil (or possibly Germany). The team finishing second? Well, as things stand, it would be in line to face off with Mexico (or perhaps Switzerland).
Mexico is in tremendous form, but common sense still dictates that you would rather play El Tri than Brazil with a place in the semifinals at stake.
Taking the above into account, it is fair to assume that neither Belgium nor England will have much interest in busting their tail to try to win the game when they play each other in the final group clash in Kaliningrad on Thursday.
So what do they do? FIFA takes a particularly dim view of teams trying to throw games, and the fallout from a side deliberately losing would be severe. But there is nothing in the rules to prevent a team from making mass changes and putting in weaker players, nor from a squad playing so defensively as to make little effort to score.
If England and Belgium play to a draw, the final tiebreaker to decide who wins the group would be disciplinary points, as in, whichever team has racked up the lowest amount of red and yellow cards.
As things stand, England has two yellow cards (worth one disciplinary point each) while Belgium has three. Could we see a replacement player "inadvertently" sent off (three disciplinary points) on Thursday? Stranger things have happened.
More: Mexico could still face disaster in World Cup despite two wins
Regardless, the first-half performance against Panama was the best England display at a World Cup for years, and it came after a week of controversy in which head coach Gareth Southgate was at loggerheads with his country’s media following the apparent revelation of his tactical plans in the press.
Perhaps it fired up England, but either way it was good enough for a high place in the World Cup record books. The only previous teams to score five unanswered goals in the opening half of a game at the tournament were Yugoslavia, which ended up beating Zaire 9-0 in 1974 following a six-goal first half effort, and Germany, which struck five in its 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the 2014 semifinal.
Kane completed a hat-trick that included two first-half penalties, defender John Stones helped himself to two, and Jesse Lingard reeled off a fine strike from outside the area. Panama's late consolation goal came from Felipe Baloy with 12 minutes left.
It was enough to raise hopes back home and have England thinking seriously about its prospect for a deep run in the tournament, while keeping a crafty eye on the multitude of statistical permutations that could make all the difference.
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England has booked a ticket into the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup in Russia after demolishing Panama, 6-1, on Sunday. Combined with Belgium's win on Saturday, the Three Lions have assured a spot into the knockout stage, and now all that's left is to decide is who finishes first in the group.
England took a 5-0 lead into halftime and picked up a hat trick from Harry Kane and a double from John Stones. The match also featured a wonderful and historic moment as Panama scored its first World Cup goal, and fans celebrated like the team had just won the tournament.
Here are the goals:
Just eight minutes in, Stones headed home a set piece to give the Three Lions the lead for good:
John Stones BURIES a free header in the box to put England up 1-0 early against Panama! pic.twitter.com/t0KJKt6DYa — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
Kane scored on a penalty kick 22 minutes in:
Harry Kane leaves no doubt with his penalty!
England up 2-0 through the first quarter of the game. pic.twitter.com/zx8qu4kYvh — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
Jesse Lingard got in on the action 10 minutes before halftime with the best goal of the game:
Score a beautiful goal, do a little dance.
Just a day in the life of Jesse Lingard. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/1nv998tTr7 — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
Minutes later, Stones got his second:
Straight from the training ground!
England executes beautifully on a free kick that ends in John Stones getting his second of the day. pic.twitter.com/ggYj22x06n — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
And right before halftime, Kane bagged another penalty kick:
Same spot, same result!
Harry Kane buries his second penalty to give England a 5-0 lead in the first half. pic.twitter.com/4S3ki5jEas — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
Kane got his hat-trick on 62 minutes but he didn't even shoot"
Harry Kane may not have known much about it, but he gets his hat-trick! 🎩 pic.twitter.com/uwhZ6HtoRo — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
And here is the moment Panama got its first ever World Cup goal:
Panama get their first FIFA World Cup goal! 🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/crmX5UEuui — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2018
In the end, a near-perfect result for England. 6-0 would have given them the edge over Belgium on goal differential, but it's still going to come down to the final match. As for Panama, two losses don't feel good, but getting a goal is one of the best moments in the national team's history and will give them a little boost as it tries to win their finale against Tunisia.
Relive commentary from Sunday's England vs. Panama match
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(Image: FIFA)
Preview: Handed a winning start for the first time in a major tournament for 12 years by captain Harry Kane's injury-time winner against Tunisia, England can look forward to Sunday's meeting with Panama with a rare sense of World Cup calm. A two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, Kane banished any remaining doubts over his ability to perform on the biggest stage for his country with the first double by an English player at the World Cup since Gary Lineker in 1990. But Kane's heroics in Volgograd papered over the cracks of his team-mates' failure to find the net with a host of simple first-half chances. Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard were particularly culpable and while Kane saved an inquest into England's profligacy and ponderous second-half performance, Sterling's place against Panama may now be in jeopardy. The first media storm of a hitherto relaxed campaign for the Three Lions was brewing on Friday after Gareth Southgate's planned team was inadvertently revealed when assistant manager Steve Holland's notes were photographed at training on Thursday. According to the notes, Marcus Rashford will replace Sterling with Ruben Loftus-Cheek stepping in for Dele Alli, who suffered a thigh injury against Tunisia. Southgate criticised the media for giving England's opponents an upper hand. "If we were to give the opposition the opportunity of having our team it's a disadvantage to us," said Southgate. "So of course our media has to decide if they want to help the team or not." In contrast to his 23-goal season at club level for Premier League champions Manchester City, Sterling now hasn't scored in his last 21 internationals. However, Rashford refuted suggestions England are too dependent on Kane for goals. "I don't think that's happening in this group," said the Manchester United striker, who admitted to being an admirer of Kane's ability to be in the right place at the right time. "He gets himself in great positions. If we can find him, we will, and, more often than not, he's going to score." At 20, Rashford is just one of a host of exciting young English talents as Southgate took the third youngest squad in the tournament to Russia. And Holland believes a more clinical touch in front of goal will come with experience. "It's psychological, it's about pushing the players to be match-winners but it is also a process," he said. "It might just take the time that it takes. "If you imagine these guys in a couple of years, and I hope I'm still around then, once they've become more seasoned at this level, that could be really exciting. It already is now." Racking up goals against Panama could be crucial if England are to top Group G. Highly-fancied Belgium soared to the top of the group by easing past the World Cup debutants 3-0 in their opening game.
