England vs Panama 24/06/18

24 June 2018

At the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, England will be facing off against Panama, looking for a win that will ensure them a place in the knockout stage. The Three Lions have managed to defeat Tunisia in the final moments of the game after Harry Kane’s header in the injury-time broke a 1-1 tie, eventually securing England first three points. On the other hand, Panama resisted against a much stronger Belgium side for the first 45 minutes of the encounter, but after Dries Mertens broke the deadlock in the 47th minute, the Red Devils crashed out favored Los Canaleros by three goals to nil. Gareth Southgate’s team has demonstrated great defensive performance over the last ten months, as they’ve only conceded three goals in the previous nine games, keeping clean sheet six times in the process, while Panama struggled in the final third, finding the back of the net only once in the last six matches. The two sides have never played against each other before, but considering Hernán Darío Gómez’s team’s displays against European national teams, England is a huge favorite to win this battle.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who changed the pace of England’s attack after coming on off the bench replacing Dele Alli in the 80th minute of the match against Tunisia might start from the first minute, while Gabriel Torres should be the one to replace Yoel Barcenas in the middle of the park for Panama.