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FIFA WORLD CUP 2018

FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 – England vs Panama PREVIEW



England are looking to advance from the groups against Panama. England started off on a high with a late win against Tunisia which has given the nation something to be happy about, meanwhile Panama got beat down 3-0 by Belgium which was expected. England are massive favourites, but can Panama make it tough on them?


ENGLAND


England started off their campaign with a tough win in a game where they dominated and got robbed of a few penalties. It was a good performance by England, but it did take a 90th minute winner by Kane to beat Tunisia 2-1. The performance overall by England looked promising, there was great link up play between attacking players they showed great pace and caused Tunisia a lot of problems, unfortunately England did waste quite a lot of chances, Lingard and Sterling had some fantastic chances but just couldn’t take them. The main man Harry Kane however scored both goals and looked like the Kane that we saw at Tottenham and not the one who struggled at the Euros in 2016 which probably shows growing up signs from him. England had a few shaky moments at the back, especially Maguire, also Walker gave up a stupid penalty which are mistakes they need to erase from their game. But yeah overall England looked decent, plus they had great spark off the bench when Rashford and Loftus-Cheek came who gave England new life towards the end of the game and helped them push through to a win. It was a better performance than the result suggests and plus it probably should’ve been 4-1 anyway as England were robbed of two penalties when Kane got dragged down in the box. One worry that we should have about England is that Dele Alli got hurt and will most likely sit out against Panama which means RLC should fit in which is a solid replacement. But with Kane rolling, England have been given new hope.


A win here for England puts them in the R16, however they do have to go out and do the job. Given the fact that Panama will sit back, England will need to make sure to not get frustrated if things don’t go from the get go and just be patient to score a goal like against Tunisia. They can’t underestimate Panama and must give everything out there. Dele Alli will be probably replaced by RLC and another talking point is whether Sterling or Rashford will start. Benching Sterling may be a bad idea here because it could drop his confidence, this is a perfect game for him to go and get his goal. Defending wise, they need to make sure to not make any mistakes because Panama will try and play some balls in the box so as long as England deal with it they’ll be fine as Panama don’t really bring much going forward. England are just superior in every aspect so if they play their game they’ll win. Expect them to have a much more comfortable performance and Kane should getting himself in the golden boot conversation.


PANAMA


Panama started off their campaign with an expected defeat. They lost to one of the favourites in Belgium 3-0. Panama didn’t bring much of a threat in the game, except from one chance which Courtois saved. Panama actually looked impressive in the 1st half defending wise as they denied Belgium, but eventually in the 2nd half the talent gap showed and Belgium scored three. Although they lost 3-0, it wasn’t a performance Panama can be ashamed of, they obviously don’t have the type of players that Belgium have, the one man that stood out was Roman Torres who was defensively solid for the most part. Panama’s back are against the wall however because a loss eliminates them, they really just need a win to have a chance to advance which is highly unlikely.


Against England, Panama once again are massive underdogs. They’ll need a miracle here. England are basically as good as Belgium and we saw how Panama struggled to deal with them whenever Belgium turned on the style. Defensively they have to be on their game as Harry Kane looks in great form, Roman Torres will have to show his leadership qualities at the back and put in a game of his life here to help Panama deny England. Panama must try and attack, they have nothing to lose but if they do attack they could get punished like Tunisia did against Belgium so it’s a huge dilemma for Panama on how to play, do they want to just risk it all and attack or try and hit England on counters? We’ll probably see more defending from them. Panama will need a lot of luck on their side to get something out of this.


Prediction


It’d be crazy to expect anything else than an England win here. England simply have more talent than Panama, we can expect Panama to try and frustrate England by siting back, but eventually England will score a few. England have a lot of exciting creative players and Harry Kane is in top form. Can’t see Panama getting anything out of this game. England on this day will win and qualify to the next round. Expect a solid 3-0 display with Kane scoring a brace.




Group Standings


1 Belgium 6 pts +6 GD


2 England 3 pts +1 GD


3 Panama 0 pts -3 GD


4 Tunisia 0 pts -4 GD




ODDS – Decimal (WilliamHill)


England Win – 1.22



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