Harry Kane's hat-trick inspired England to their biggest ever World Cup win as Gareth Southgate's men sealed progress to the last 16 with a 6-1 demolition of Panama that puts their rivals on notice.
Things finally appear to be looking up for an England side who were humiliated by Iceland at Euro 2016 and eliminated with a game to spare at the 2014 World Cup.
They secured progress to the knockout phase with a thrilling World Cup win that will live long in the memory as Kane's hat-trick complemented John Stones' brace and a Jesse Lingard stunner against shambolic Panama.
Substitute Felipe Baloy netted the Central Americans' first ever goal at the finals but it could not take the gloss off a Three Lions win which was as comprehensive as it was impressive, setting up an intriguing shoot-out with Belgium for top spot on Thursday - a match Roberto Martinez's men will surely enter with increased trepidation.
After displaying their character to seal a last-gasp win against Tunisia, England kept a cool head to deal with Panama's rough-house tactics in sweltering Nizhny Novgorod, emphatically adding the clinical edge Southgate had called for after Monday's game.
Stones headed home his first two international goals in an opening period which saw Kane smash home two spot-kicks and Lingard curl home from the edge of the penalty area.
England made light work of a Panama side focused on unsettling rather than outplaying them, with captain Kane becoming his country's third player to score a World Cup finals hat-trick when the ball went in off him early in the second half.
Baloy made history late on but it did not take the edge off a victory to cherish - just the third time the Three Lions had won their opening two World Cup games.
The result sees England move into 9/1 to win the World Cup, whilst captain Kane is the new 6/4 favourite to win the Golden Boot.
Opta facts
- England have won both of their opening two group stage games at a World Cup tournament for the third time, also doing so in 1982 and 2006.
- This was England’s biggest ever win in a major tournament match (World Cup and European Championships).
- This was only the fifth occasion a side had scored five goals before half-time in a World Cup match, and the first since Germany did so against Brazil in the 2014 semi-final.
- England scored as many goals in this match as they had in their previous seven World Cup matches combined (6).
- Only in 1966 (11) have England scored more goals in a single World Cup tournament than they have in 2018 (8, same as 1954 and 1990).
- Panama have conceded nine goals across their first two World Cup matches. The last time anyone conceded more in their first ever two fixtures was in 1974, with Zaire shipping 11 and Haiti conceding 10.
- Only two players have been older than Panama’s Felipe Baloy (37y 120d) when scoring their first ever World Cup goal – Cameroon’s Roger Milla (38y 25d) in 1990 and Sweden’s Gunnar Gren (37y 236d) in 1958.
- John Stones became the first England defender to score two goals in a single World Cup match.
- Harry Kane is only the third England player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match, after Geoff Hurst vs Germany in the 1966 final and Gary Lineker vs Poland in 1986.
- England striker Harry Kane is the first player to have scored at least twice in both of his first two ever World Cup appearances since Poland’s Grzegorz Lato in 1974. Lato went on to win the Golden Boot at that tournament.
- England’s Harry Kane is now the leading scorer at the 2018 World Cup with five goals. He’s scored with all five of his shots on target in the tournament.
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Odds correct at 1515 BST (24/06/18)
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