The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Kane hat trick helps England rout Panama
With the country’s most one-sided World Cup victory, England advanced to the last 16 with a game by spare.
Harry Kane scored a hat trick in Sunday’s 6-1 rout of Panama in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, giving England its biggest victory margin at the World Cup in its highest-scoring game since 1966.
That previous high-scoring affair turned out well, too, with England beating Germany 4-2 to win its only World Cup title.
Four years ago, England failed to win a match at the World Cup and was eliminated in the group stage.
On Sunday, England was taking on a weaker team: A Panama side making its World Cup debut. The loss eliminated Panama and Tunisia, while putting Belgium into the round of 16.
Kane’s three goals moved him into the lead with five at this year’s tournament, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku after two games.
John Stones headed in two goals and Jesse Lingard curled in another to ensure England goes into its Group G finale against Belgium level on points and with the same goal difference.
In Russia, England has been trying to cast aside the negativity of the past while remolding the image of the team on and off the field. Even locals were supporting the team in Nizhny Novgorod, despite the bitter diplomatic relations between Russia and Britain.
The egos who dominated in England’s celebrityobsessed, underperforming Golden Generation in the first decade of century have gone. The joy and togetherness in the squad — the second-youngest in Russia — becomes clear in the goal celebrations.
Where past England teams might have wilted in warm temperatures, this one pressed with hightempo intensity to ensure there was no need to scrape a victory like on Monday against Tunisia.
JAPAN 2, SENEGAL 2
Keisuke Honda sat on the bench for 72 minutes, knowing a goal would make him the first Japanese player to score at three World Cups.
Six minutes later, it was a done deal.
The former AC Milan forward scored in the 78th minute, knocking the ball past two defenders standing on the goal line, to give Japan a draw with Senegal at the World Cup in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
The 32-year-old Honda also scored at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. He has 37 international goals in his career.
“I believe I used substitutions very well in looking back,” said Japan coach Akira Nishino, who took over shortly before the tournament started. “Honda was moved from center to the wide side and he was very versatile at adapting to that position.
“We really wanted to win, we wanted to equalize and also take the lead even though there was only a short period of time left.”
The draw keeps both teams at the top of Group H ahead of their final matches. Japan will next face Poland in Volgograd on Thursday while Senegal faces Colombia in Samara.
COLOMBIA 2, POLAND 1
Radamel Falcao’s first World Cup goal led Colombia to a victory over Poland in Kazan, Russia, 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.