THE VERDICT PANEL
SO, WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM THE BIG MATCH?
CHRIS SUTTON
THAT last-gasp header from Harry Kane is the most important goal he has ever scored. It changes the whole narrative of England’s World Cup. Draw, and the players fly back to Repino deflated. All the focus would have been on how VAR had denied us penalties. Instead, the whole party will be brimming with confidence. Kane talked before this game about wanting to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo. He may not have scored a hat-trick, but Kane dragged his team over the line just as Ronaldo salvaged a draw for Portugal against Spain. The big players step up for the big moments. In Kane, England could well have a star of this tournament.
MARTIN KEOWN
TUNISIA’S grappling of Harry Kane in the box was disgraceful — as was referee Wilmar Roldan for failing to deal with it. The referee has to be one of the poorest we have seen at the tournament so far. It seemed as if he was waiting for VAR to make the decision for him. Ultimately, it is still the man in the middle who must make the big calls. Panama saw five players booked against Belgium yesterday. Hopefully on Sunday we get a referee who is prepared to clamp down.
IAN LADYMAN
THE main things I take from what was a fairly indifferent performance against a really poor Tunisia side was the way England kept playing the right way throughout the match and also the way Gareth Southgate used his substitutes. A draw would have been a poor result and England could have panicked towards the end of the second half but they didn’t. Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both made an impact and helped to give England an advantage over the tiring Tunisia full backs. This was a squeaky night, though, and England must improve.
IAN HERBERT
MY highlight was the 30-yard cross-field ‘Gerrard’ pass from Jordan Henderson that brought a spontaneous round of applause from the St Petersburg bar where I watched the game. It was an equally fine ball by Henderson from which England almost scored early on. He ran the game in the first half, and his impeccable distribution made him unrecognisable from the player of two years ago. He has missed out on the captaincy yet was the supreme motivator. It’s the absence of ego which makes this England team so likeable. Henderson epitomises that.
JAMIE REDKNAPP
RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK may have been on the pitch for just 10 minutes but what an impact he had. He has not played a lot of football in his career — missing parts of his season on loan at Crystal Palace through injury — but he must be seriously impressing Gareth Southgate in training. With the clock ticking down and England needing a goal, it was the 22-year-old to whom Southgate turned to change the game. Straight away Loftus-Cheek brought a renewed energy to England’s play. When things had fallen flat, he raised the tempo. He was quick, sharp and aggressive. It was his determination which won the corner in the dying minutes from which Harry Kane scored England’s dramatic winning goal. Now, when Southgate needs to bring on a player who can give his side a new lease of life, he knows he can rely on Loftus-Cheek.