WATCH: Dave predicts Portugal and Iran do or die
If Iran beat Portugal and Spain win their fixture against Morocco this evening, CR7's Portugal won't make it through the group stage
Kane & Co. sail England through
With a five-star first half performance, England cruised through the Panama canal for a decisive 6-1 win that sees them join Belgium on six points at the top of Group H and headed for the knockout stage.
The first goal came in the 6th minute as an unmarked John Stones headed home a Kieran Trippier corner – a sign of things to come.
England totally controlled the tempo, with Panama relying on breakaways, their only other tactic being to bump and thump opponents at every opportunity.
Jesse Lingard was copping the worst of it and when he was brought down from behind, captain Harry Kane took the penalty and his emphatic smash gave no hope for Jaime Penedo (2-0).
Lingard – who played his finest game in the white shirt – picked his spot to make it 3-0 as he found the top right corner after playing a big part in the build-up.
Stones, who had never before scored for his country, got his second in the 39th minute when a free kick was played short to the left and crossed back in from the right for the Man City defender to nod it in for 4-0.
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Stones featured again when he and Harry Kane were rugby tackled at yet another corner and Kane duly dispatched the penalty kick: same spot, same result and it was 5-0 as England exploited a defensive ‘Pan’demic.
Already through and anxious to avoid yellow cards and injuries, England played ‘keep ball’ in the second half but still managed to add to their tally when a Ruben Luftus-Cheek shot deflected off Kane (who knew nothing about it) for the skipper’s hat trick and a 6-0 score line.
Gareth Southgate rang the changes: Jamie Vardie for Kane, Fabian Delph for Lingard and Danny Rose for Trippier.
Panama had the last say when 37-year-old Felipe Baloy got on the end of a free kick to slide it home – Panama’s first ever World Cup finals goal, some consolation as they now prepare to check their outgoing flight tickets.
Spoils shared in thrilling draw
Each with a win and looking to top Group H, Japan and Senegal took to the field on Sunday seeking to all but secure their places in the last 16.
Senegal started the sharper and were rewarded in the 11th minute after a double Japanese blunder.
A poor defensive headed clearance by Genki Haraguchi fell to the African champions; then keeper Eiji Kawashima failed to catch a simple ball, pushing it onto the advancing Sadio Mane’s knees and into the goal (1-0).
He didn’t know nuch about it, but the predator was poised in the right place.
Japan started seeing more of the ball after that, passing well and gaining in confidence.
It paid off in the 34th minute when Yuto Nagatomo bamboozled the defence and a fed a pass into the path of Takashi Inui, who curled a powerful shot into the far corner (1-1).
It remained a stalemate at the break – a situation that would not have pleased either side.
Chances came and went at both ends in the second stanza, with Japan twice oh so close to taking the lead, including Inui hitting the junction of post and crossbar.
Somewhat against the run of play, teenager Moussa Wague whacked home a low cross that had eluded everyone else in a packed goalmouth and it was 2-1 to Senegal with 20 minutes to play.
Japan were back in it on 78 minutes when super sub Keisuke Honda drove the ball home from a scrap in front of the goals after keeper Abdoulaye Diallo came out and failed to intercept the cross.
It was indeed the power of dreams and that’s the way it ended, 2-2, with Japan twice having come from behind.
The spectators of both countries as well as the neutrals left the stadium having witnessed a superb clash.
Dazzling Colombia embarrass timid Poland
With Group H competitors Japan and Senegal on four points, it was a must-win for both Poland and Columbia, each with nil, if they were to stand any chance of making progress to the last 16 round.
Poland supplied most of the early pressure; as usual hoping inspirational skipper Robert Lewandowski would do his magic.
However, the Columbian back four did a sterling ‘pest control’ marking job on him, neutralising his prowess.
Chances were created fairly regularly for both sides, especially from the dancing feet of Columbia’s sparkling Juan Cuadrado.
But finishing was miserable at both ends, with not a single shot on target until 39 minutes when a clever cross from James Rodríguez found the head of Yerry Mina, who put the South Americans ahead 1-0.
With majority possession, they were worthy of the half time lead.
They can thank keeper David Ospina for maintaining the status quo when he saved point blank from Lewandowski early in the second period.
However, it was Colombia who doubled their lead with the goal of the game in the 70th minute when a defence-splitting pass by Juan Fernando Quintero was gleefully pounced on by veteran Radamel Falcao, who absolutely nailed a bullet past Wojciech Szczesny in the sticks.
Two minutes later and Juan Cuadrado picked up a loose ball, dribbled half the length of the field, held off a couple of would-be defenders and duly supplied a classy finishing touch to make it 3-0.
This would be the end result.
Poland‘s World Cup dream is over, while Colombia are well in it, just one point behind Japan and Senegal – their opponents in the last group encounter on Thursday.
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