Kane hits trifecta in historic rout of Panama

England’s star scores three in 6-1 pummelling

With two penalties and an accidental deflection, Harry Kane moved ahead of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo and put England into the round of 16 at the World Cup.

Kane scored half of England’s goals Sunday in a 6-1 rout of Panama, the national team’s largest margin of victory at the World Cup.

“The third one is probably one of the luckiest ones of my career,” said Kane, who took the game ball to the locker-room. “Sometimes you go through spells where you are scoring and sometimes it doesn’t fall for you.

“Not many players get to score a hat trick in a World Cup.”

Kane has scored a tournament-leading five goals at the World Cup in Russia, one more than Portugal’s Ronaldo and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku. He also has 18 for England’s national team, one more than Beckham.

Kane scored two in the opening 2-1 victory over Tunisia, including a header in injury time.

Not since a 4-2 victory over Germany in the 1966 final has England scored as many goals at the World Cup.

The ruthlessness of the display in the sweltering heat of Nizhny Novgorod showed how far England has been transformed in the four years since an older, more experienced squad couldn’t even manage a win when it exited the 2014 World Cup in the group stage.

“The other day we had to go right to the wire and show qualities that were going to be extremely important,” England coach Gareth Southgate said. “The only downside was the goal at the end because we talked at halftime about the importance of controlling the group with our goal difference. We missed out on that opportunity, but it would be harsh to criticize the players after a day like that.”

Now England is sure of a spot in the Round of 16 with a game to spare in Group G.

Keisuke Honda came off the bench and scored from close range in the 78th minute to give the Japanese a 2-2 tie with Senegal. The tie keeps the two teams at the top of Group H ahead of their final matches.

Sadio Mane gave Senegal the lead in the 11th minute, deflecting the ball into the net for his first World Cup goal, but Takashi Inui equalized with a well-placed shot from inside the area in the 34th.

Moussa Wague restored Senegal’s lead in the 71st minute. Honda came on the field a minute later and evened the score.

In their final group games Thursday, Senegal will face Colombia while Japan plays Poland.

Radamel Falcao’s first World Cup goal led Colombia to a 3-0 victory over Poland that kept the team in the running for a spot in the knockout round.

The Monaco striker scored with the outside of his foot in the 70th minute after a superb pass from playmaker Juan Quintero in the back of the defence.

Poland, which has two losses, was eliminated.

Yerry Mina scored the first goal in the 40th and Juan Cuadrado completed the win in the 75th.