Juan Carlos Maygua
England got the win it needed, but the better part for Thomas Tuchel was how it arrived. Jude Bellingham finally grabbed the match, Harry Kane grabbed a record, and Panama ran out of ways to keep the game uncomfortable.
England beat Panama 2-0 at New Jersey Stadium on Friday, finishing on top of Group L and setting up a Round of 32 meeting with Congo DR in Atlanta.
Panama made England work for it early. José Luis Rodríguez found enough pockets to keep Jordan Pickford awake, and Michael Murillo nearly had a run at goal from a long ball that got away from him.
Bellingham gave England the shove it needed
Jude Bellingham scored in the 60th minute with the kind of run England had been missing. He was decisive, direct, and a little angry with the ball, which is usually when England start to look like England again.
He was not hiding between the lines or waiting for the game to come to him. He started taking touches that pulled Panama out of shape, and once the opener came, England stopped looking so stiff.
Kane took Lineker out of the record book
Five minutes after the opener, Bellingham slipped the pass across and Kane finished the second. That gave Kane 11 World Cup goals, one more than Gary Lineker, and it gave England the cleanest version of the afternoon.
Kane was already England’s all-time scorer, so this was not a new crown for the national team record book. This one belongs to the World Cup list, which still matters because England’s tournament history has always been measured against those old names.
Panama made the score work harder
Panama did not fold into the match. Rodríguez kept trying to create from the left side, and there were enough counters to keep England honest before Bellingham finally broke the thing open.
The final score still made sense. England had more quality, more control, and the two players who could settle the day without a messy finish.
The first half was flat enough to annoy anyone expecting a cruise. The second half gave England what it needed: Bellingham in charge, Kane sharp, and the bracket waiting. No need to make it prettier than that.
