Southgate wants ‘perfect’ preparation for Panama
GARETH Southgate is demanding “perfect” preparation as England look to build on the victory against Tunisia and close in on the World Cup knockout phase.
Displaying impressive character at the end of a game that had started with no little skill, Harry Kane headed home his second goal of the game to secure a 2-1 win in Monday’s Group G opener.
It was England’s first winning start to a major tournament since 2006, and puts them in a strong position to reach the last-16 heading into Sunday’s match against Panama – beaten 3-0 by Belgium – in Nizhny Novgorod.
There appears little chance of complacency seeping in, though, given Southgate’s focus and the players’ hunger to improve.
“There are always things (to improve),” the England boss said. “We are a team that are improving and developing, and therefore there will always be things that we can get better at.
“We’re a long way from perfection. What pleased me is that there has been a long period of work gone into (Monday’s) result from all the players and all of the support team.
“If you don’t get the win, even though you’ve done so many things right, that can breed a little bit of doubt.
“Of course there would be a different feel externally, so the next four, five days would be a little less comfortable for people.
“What we’ve got to make sure is we enjoy it but we don’t have comfort for the next four or five days. We have got a job to do.
“We have to prepare as perfectly for Panama to make sure we get the result in that game we need.
“I think the players know it’s hard to win a match in the World Cup against any opposition and Tunisia were opposition we respected.
“But Panama for 45 minutes were obdurate opponents against Belgium and we’ll have to prepare 100 per cent right to win it.”
In yesterday’s games, Colombia’s Carlos Sanchez became the first player to be sent off at the 2018 World Cup as Japan secured an entertaining 2-1 win in Saransk.
The former Aston Villa midfielder was dismissed after just four minutes in the Group H opener for deliberate handball and Shinji Kagawa made no mistake with the resulting penalty.
Colombia equalised shortly before half-time through Juan Quintero’s free-kick, but Japan dominated the second half and were good value for Yuya Osako’s late winner.
Senegal defeated Poland 2-1 although there was a hint of controversy about their second goal.
M’Baye Niang sprinted back on to the field of play after injury and immediately intercepted a backpass from midfield, beating former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to the ball to score.
Senegal had taken the lead shortly before the break when a shot from Idrissa Gueye took a huge deflection off Thiago Cionek.
Poland ensured a frantic finale when Grzegorz Krychowiak headed home a free-kick at the far post.