Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Kane’s hat trick helps England rout of Panama
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA » 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-ever 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 Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku. He also has 18 for England’s national team, one more than Beckham.
Not since the 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 just 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 World Cup in the group stage.
In 2014, England complained about the heat in Brazil — particularly the humidity of the Amazonian jungle in the team’s opening loss to Italy.
Kane scored two in the opening 2-1 victory over Tunisia, including a header in injury time.
“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, in the heat as well, so we must enjoy the win.”
Now England is sure of a spot in the round of 16 with a game to spare in Group G. Panama, which offered little resistance, is leaving the tournament early after being eliminated along with Tunisia.
Sterner tests await, starting with the Thursday’s game against Belgium. England and Belgium are level on points and goal difference and will play for first place in the group.
England showed it wasn’t only reliant on Kane, who couldn’t find the net at the 2016 European Championship. John Stones headed in two goals and Jesse Lingard curled in another.
Columbia 3, Poland 0
KAZAN, RUSSIA » Radamel Falcao’s first World Cup goal led Colombia to a 3-0 victory over Poland on Sunday and kept the team in the running for a spot in the knockout round.
Falcao had been expected to lead the team at the last World Cup in Brazil, but he injured his knee ahead of the tournament and missed Colombia’s run to the quarterfinals.
Healthy again, 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 defense.
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.
Both teams lost their Group H openers and knew another loss would end their hopes of advancing. Colombia will next face Senegal on Thursday in Samara with a chance to win the group, while Poland will play Japan in Volgograd.
Senegal and Japan drew 2-2 earlier Sunday and lead the group with four points each.
Senegal 2, Japan 2
YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA » Senegal twice took the lead. Japan tied it up both times.
Keisuke Honda came off the bench in the second half and scored in the 78th minute, giving the Japanese a 2-2 draw with Senegal on Sunday at the World Cup.
The 32-year-old Honda, a former AC Milan forward, became the first Japanese player to score at three World Cups.
The draw 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 with his first World Cup goal.
Moussa Wague crossed from the right, but Genki Haraguchi failed to properly clear the ball. Youssouf Sabaly then sent a shot toward goal that Eiji Kawashima was unable to control and Mane tapped it into the net.
Japan struck back in the 34th minute when Takashi Inui scored with a low shot from inside the area after receiving a pass from Yuto Nagamoto on a quick counterattack. It was Japan’s first shot on goal in the match, and it changed the run of play.