England vs Panama Preview

England faced Tunisia on Monday in their opening World Cup game and although they were dominant from the start, they left it late to clinch the winner.

England’s dominance in that game led to them wasting several chances and VAR was also unsurprisingly not consulted when the Three Lions had two clear penalties for fouls on Harry Kane.

When Markus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were introduced into the game, the pressure became too much for the Tunisians and Harry Kane got his second goal of the game in the 90^th minute.

England may have left it late to seal the win, but their performance was great and what made the victory sweeter for England fans was seeing the likes of Germany and Argentina struggle in their first games.

Panama’s game against Belgium was their first ever at this level.

They were expectedly beaten 3-0 by the Belgians and they face the other giant team in their group here.

The 3-0 scoreline may have painted a picture that is different from what really happened in that match.

While Panama admittedly had little to offer upfront, they were dogged in defence and held Belgium to a goalless draw in the first half.

It took a thumping goal from Dries Mertens to open the scoring just after half time and from there on the North Americans capitulated and Romelu Lukaku netted a brace to finish them off.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

England

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Tunisia		1-2		England	18 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	England		2-0		Costa Rica	7 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	England		2-1		Nigeria	2 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
D	England		1-1		Italy	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Netherlands		0-1		England	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

Panama

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Belgium		3-0		Panama	18 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
L	Norway		1-0		Panama	6 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
D	Panama		0-0		Northern Ireland	30 May, 2018	International Friendly
W	Trinidad and Tobago		0-1		Panama	18 Apr, 2018	International Friendly
L	Switzerland		6-0		Panama	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

H2H