England captain Harry Kane celebrates with the match ball after full time (Photo: AFP)
England took the 2018 FIFA World Cup by storm as they trounced debutants Panama 6-1 in their Group D game, with skipper Harry Kane netting a hat-trick to go ahead of the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Golden Boot race on Saturday night.
Panama had been blanked 3-0 by Belgium in their World Cup opener and weren’t expected give Gareth Southgate’s men much fight but nobody could have predicted the Three Lions would be 5-0 up by half-time itself.
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There was a late consolation for the Central American nation, which was wildly celebrated, but the the talk of the town was Kane’s treble and here are the highlights from the goalfest at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium:
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England and Belgium both have maximum points after two games and the European nations meet in clash that will decide the winner of the Group on Thursday night (11.30 PM IST).
The Red Devils have been in impressive form of late, but the fact that captain and centre-forward Kane has hit the ground running in Russia will raise expectations of the 1966 winners as they look to end their long-running trophy drought.
Lukaku (Belgium) and Ronaldo (Portugal) have so far scored four goals each, while Kane now has five after his maiden treble at the World Cup.
So far, no side has scored six at the World Cup. Belgium (5-2 vs Tunisia) and hosts Russia (5-0 vs Saudi Arabia) are the only two teams to have scored five in one fixture.
Harry Kane says England are still searching for the "missing piece" after a 2-1 FIFA World Cup semifinal defeat to Argentina ended the Three Lions' title hopes.
England midfielder Jordan Henderson was taken to hospital after suffering a wrist injury during celebrations following England's dramatic 3-2 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 victory over Mexico, coach Thomas Tuchel confirmed.
Jude Bellingham scored twice and Harry Kane added a penalty as 10-man England edged co-hosts Mexico 3-2 to reach the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinals, where they will face Norway.