Warning for England as Panama aim to ‘play hard’

Southgate instructs players not to be intimidated by rugged approach

England have been warned to expect a tough time in tomorrow’s Group G clash with Panama in Nizhny Novgorod.

England boss Gareth Southgate, who revealed that Dele Alli is unlikely to make it, has told his players about Panama’s rugged approach after the Central American minnows picked up five bookings in their tournament opener against Belgium.

Panama have developed a reputation as rough and physical opponents, and Southgate has instructed his players not to be intimidated as England seek to build on their opening World Cup victory against Tunisia.

“We are going there to play hard,” Panama defender Harold Cummings said yesterday.

“We are going there to compete. We will do our job against any team we face.

“England have players that are competing at a really high level, and I think that is an advantage they have over us.

“It is going to be man versus man and we are not going to look at the names on the back of the England jerseys.”

England, ranked 12th in the world, are 43 places higher than Panama in the Fifa standings but Hernan Dario Gomez’s side stood up for themselves against star-studded Belgium in Sochi on Monday.

The Red Devils were kept at bay in a niggly first half before Dries Mertens opened the scoring within seconds of the re-start.

Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku scored twice to put some gloss on Belgium’s 3-0 victory.

But Cummings, who plays for American club the San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer, believes Panama can stifle the threat of Harry Kane and company.

Kane scored twice in the opening 2-1 win over Tunisia and the England captain might see Panama as an opportunity to boost his bid to win the tournament’s Golden Boot.

“Harry Kane is one of the best number nines in the world, so it is going to be a tough job,” said Cummings, who has made the World Cup after breaking his leg in an accident at home last year.

“But we have prepared for this and all of us on the national team have worked hard to take on this challenge.

“It is a good platform for us to show the world that Panama is ready for this level of competition.”

Southgate is still pondering his team selection for the game with Dele Alli likely to sit it out with an injury.

The 22-year-old played 80 minutes of Monday’s win Tunisia, despite sustaining a minor thigh strain during the first half.

Alli again missed training with the England squad yesterday and Southgate believes the attacking midfielder will probably miss tomorrow’s match.

Asked if he had told the players the team to face Panama yet, the Three Lions boss told talkSPORT: “Not yet, no.

“I mean I think always from the type of training that we do they have a good idea and clearly we had a team that played very well and won.

“So, we’re not going to be wildly different to that.

“We have to wait and see whether Dele is going to be fit.

“It’s looking unlikely because he has not trained with the team yet, but he’s progressing really well, so we won’t rule that out just yet.”

The manager also played down the significance of pictures apparently showing the team on a note carried by assistant boss Steve Holland in training being published in the media.

He added: “It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. It is a squad of 23 names on the sheet, the next sheet has different players in different positions because we swap people in and swap people out. For me, no drama.”