England aims to ease the pressure
MOSCOW— For an England team that came to the World Cup with reduced expectations, things are setting up nicely.
The younger, friendlier squad — a minor dust-up with the media notwithstanding — began with a 2-1 win over Tunisia on a late header by Harry Kane, who also scored the team’s first goal. On Sunday, England faces Panama (TSN, 8 a.m.), which is playing in its first-ever World Cup and looked overmatched in a 3-0 opening loss to Belgium.
A match with mighty Belgium and gifted Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku looms to conclude group play. But England could take the pressure off by beating Panama, a result that would guarantee a spot in the second round.
England is familiar with losing to underdogs, having been eliminated by Iceland in the 2016 European championship. Coach Gareth Southgate has warned against getting too “comfortable.”
There’s another similarity between Iceland and Panama that should enter into England’s preparation for the match at Nizhny Novgorod. Panama defender Adolfo Machado specializes in long, looping throwins to set up goals, just as Iceland midfielder Aron Gunnarsson did in the match that former national team player Alan Shearer called “the worst performance I have ever seen from an England team. Ever.”
JAPAN VS. SENEGAL
TSN, 11 a.m.
The teams enter the match in Yekaterinburg coming off surprising 2-1 wins — Japan over Colombia and Senegal over Poland. That means the winner would be in good shape to advance past the group stage, and a draw could end up benefiting either or both. Japan became the first Asian team to beat a team from South America in the World Cup, and Senegal is one of two African teams with victories so far in the tournament. Nigeria is the other.
POLAND VS. COLOMBIA
TSN, 2 p.m.
Poland is eighth in the FIFA rankings, Colombia 16th — and both face the prospect of an early World Cup exit when they meet in Kazan. The tournament couldn’t have started much worse for Colombia. Carlos Sanchez received a red card in the third minute against Japan, forcing his team to play nearly the entire match a man down. Authorities in Colombia have said they are investigating a death threat made against Sanchez on social media. The ominous message referenced Andres Escobar, who was shot and killed days after returning to Colombia from the 1994 World Cup, where he scored an own-goal in a loss to the host U.S.