WORLD CUP ROUT
Harry Kane celebrates after scoring England’s second goal during a 6-1 rout of Panama on Sunday in a group G World Cup match.
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.
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.
Colombia 2, Poland 1
KAZAN, Russia – Radamel Falcao’s first World Cup goal led Colombia to a victory over Poland 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.
Japan 2, Senegal 2
YEKATERINBURG, Russia – Senegal twice took the lead. Japan tied it up both times.
Keisuke Honda came off the bench and scored from close range in the 78th minute to give the Japanese a draw with Senegal. 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, deflecting the ball into the net for his first World Cup goal, but Takashi Inui equalized with a well-placed shot from inside the area in the 34th.