England secured their spot in the round of 16 with a beautiful first-half blitz against a beastly Panama. Here’s what we learned from their record 6-1 win:
England: Set-piece experts
Six of England’s eight goals at the World Cup have come from set-pieces. It is by some margin the most of any side in Russia, and just goes on to show how much practice has gone into this aspect of the game.
A lot of teams often teams tend to overlook it, but Gareth Southgate hasn’t jumped onto the bandwagon, and in doing so, he has made this side really, really tough to defend against from set-piece situations.
This is what happens when you have a top-class coach at the helm, who can analyse a group of players well, and add more value to their set of skills.
Harry Kane a definite contender for the Golden Boot
Harry Kane now has five goals at the World Cup – one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku. While he may not have bagged the most perfect of hat-tricks, with two penalties and a deflection of Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot (yes, he claimed it) contributing to his perfect day, he did find the net. It’s all that matters.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker will now have at least two matches to add to his already impressive tally, and it certainly doesn’t like he can’t win that vaunted Golden Boot, which has eluded so many of England’s great strikers in the past.
He would, however, be hoping that it’s not the only trophy that he returns back home with.
Jesse Lingard England’s best so far?
Jesse Lingard’s primary role in this England side is to cause trouble with his movement in behind, and so far, he has excelled at doing so. He was on song against Panama, earning a penalty before scoring a wonder goal that is sure to be counted among one of the Three Lions’ most memorable strikes.
Harry Kane may be making all the headlines with his freakish goalscoring abilities, but it won’t be too wrong to say that Lingard has been England’s best player. Take him out of the side and the difference he makes would be much more clear.
Next: Fleetwood Town to World Cup glory – The Jamie Vardy show
Yes, his finishing may have let him down, but that can’t take away the other contributions that he so far had, which are obviously the most vital to this team’s functioning.