We round up Sunday’s talking points from Russia, with England breaking records, Panama celebrating and even a comedy song.
Each day during the tournament, we will be pulling together all the big stories and best reaction right here in a nutshell, so you do not miss a thing.
Here are the highlights from day 11 at the World Cup…
The reports
England 6-1 Panama
Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as England swaggered to the World Cup knockout stage with a game to spare after routing Panama 6-1 in Nizhny Novgorod.
A record World Cup haul had come in a remarkable first half as John Stones scored twice from set-pieces (8, 40), Kane lashed two penalties (22, 45+1) and Jesse Lingard found the top corner with a curling strike (36).
Kane knew little about his 62nd-minute third, diverting Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot in via his heel, but a World Cup treble takes him top of the goalscoring charts in Russia, as well as putting him in illustrious England company alongside Gary Lineker and Sir Geoff Hurst.
Panama were as naive as they were robust in the sweltering heat, but the first-timers were afforded some consolation cheer when 37-year-old substitute Felipe Baloy pounced 12 minutes from time.
Japan 2-2 Senegal
Keisuke Honda was Japan’s hero once again as he rescued a 2-2 draw with Senegal as the two teams remained joint-top of World Cup Group H.
In a game of goalkeeping errors, Senegal took an early lead when Eiji Kawashima turned Youssouf Sabaly’s shot into the body of Sadio Mane for a goal he knew little about after 11 minutes.
Senegal had the better of the first half, and Japan offered little until Takashi Inui’s curler beat Khadim Ndiaye 34 minutes in.
The Asian side would go onto enjoy their best spell of the game just after half-time, but it was cut short when Moussa Wague fired Sabaly’s low cross high into the net from a tight angle (71).
Honda, Japan’s record World Cup goalscorer, would have the final word, netting from close range (78) after goalkeeper Ndiaye had missed a cross completely, for his fourth goal in a World Cup finals.
Poland 0-3 Colombia
Colombia got their World Cup campaign firmly back on track with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Poland in their Group H clash.
Opening defeats for both sides in Group H meant it was a must-not-lose scenario at the Kazan Stadium and Yerry Mina’s first-half goal (40) sent Colombia on their way.
A first World Cup goal for Radamel Falcao (70) and Juan Cuadrado’s third (75) put the gloss on a scintillating performance as Colombia boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stage.
Moment of the day
Even after taking a battering, it’s difficult to look beyond Felipe Baloy’s late consolation for Panama – because it certainly wasn’t treated like that back in his home country.
The 37-year-old, in surely the most memorable moment of his long career, turned in from close-range to provide a tinge of frustration for England’s defensive performance, and send fans of the World Cup debutants bananas after scoring their first ever goal at a finals.
The UK’s ambassador to Panama was later seen in the pool at his official residence complete with the shirt of the national team, as they celebrated a historic moment in the country’s history.
Key quotes
Tweet of the day
Kyle Walker replies to an England fan who says she will get a tattoo of John Stones if the Manchester City defender scores against Panama… and you know the rest.
Sampaoli was roundly criticised for his game plan following a 3-0 loss to Croatia in Argentina’s second group game at the World Cup, sparking rumours the 58-year-old would be sacked during the tournament.
“The relationship with the coach is completely normal,” Mascherano said ahead of the must-win match against Nigeria in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday.
France midfielder Paul Pogba says he is determined to enjoy the World Cup this summer because it “may be my last one”.
The Manchester United man is only 25 and may well have more tournaments in him – but he says that cannot be taken for granted.
FIFA is to consider making a change to their concussion protocols following Morocco’s decision to play Nordin Amrabat just five days after suffering a concussion.
The Watford winger suffered a concussion in the African side’s opening game against Iran on Friday, June 15 but then played in the second Group B match against Portugal on Wednesday, five days after the head injury.
This was strongly criticised by brain injury experts, though, who pointed out that Amrabat should have taken at least a week off, as per FIFA’s ‘return to play’ guidelines.
And finally…
A comedian who called Russia’s World Cup soccer team an expletive in a music video watched online by at least 12 million people released a new song on Sunday in which he said sorry and his co-performer hailed the national side as heroes.
The jokey song was well received by many Russians at the time, but angered some fans and politicians, including the Kremlin-backed head of Chechnya who said he found part of it offensive.
Since its release, Russia has dramatically confounded its critics, beating Saudi Arabia 5-0 and Egypt 3-1, earning itself a place in the knockout stage in an unexpected turn of events that has delighted the Russian public.
Slepakov, whose patriotism had been called into question by some fans, teamed up with Sergei Shnurov, the founder of the band “Leningrad”, to try to make amends in a new song called “Champions”.
Also See:
Sourse: skysports.com
