The English national football team escaped the Panama trap and secured a narrow victory to secure top Group 12 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final third round of the first round of the North American World Cup.
The Three Lions owe their victory to Real Madrid striker Jude Bellingham, who opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, and made the second for the historic English top scorer in the finals, Harry Kane (67), raising his tally to 11 goals, one behind Gary Lineker, including 3 in the current edition.
England, who were guaranteed to qualify for the round of 32, raised their tally to 7 points at the top of the group and set up a date in the next round with Senegal or the third of Group XI in Atlanta on July 1, while Panama suffered their third consecutive loss and were out of the competition before the match.
The tournament starts all over again
England continued their lackluster performance, similar to their match against Ghana in the second round (0-0), especially in the first half, where they found it difficult to create scoring chances and shot seven times, including one framed shot, while Panama was the most dangerous of their few chances with three shots, including two framed between the three boards.
England coach Thomas Tuchel said after the game: "We did what was needed. It was a tough game as we expected against a physically strong opponent, a team that is difficult to score and we were the only team to create that many chances and score two goals. We were very combative, and we had to be careful of counter-attacks."
"We deserve to win, but the work was hard, there is more to build on, as a lot of details have to be adjusted, and it is a defensive style that requires boldness in individual matches, the tournament starts again now in the knockout stages, we will gather our strengths and energy and build on our collective spirit, fighting and faith, we will raise the level."
"He did well, I'm happy to be in this situation, all the players did what was asked of them, and Jude was a big part of that," he said of Bellingham's performance.
Bellingham said after the game: "We got the first job done. We came here to progress step by step, we got through the qualifiers well and we achieved the first goal: we qualified from the group stage and topped the group. We know the level we have and what we want to achieve, and we showed that in the second half. We have to work on improving every day, and it's up to us."
Croatia defeats Ghana
Croatia reached the round of 32 of the World Cup by defeating Ghana by two goals to one, in the third and final round of the group stage for Group XII.
Petar Soucic opened the scoring for Croatia in the 31st minute after a powerful shot from distance took advantage of a pass from Mateo Kovacic.
Derek Lucasin scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute, following up a cross from Ernest Nwama from a free-kick on the edge of the box.
However, the Croatian national team came back to the lead after 10 minutes through its player Nikola Vlasic, as he followed up a cross from a corner kick by captain Luka Modric with a header into the net, to lead his country to qualify as runners-up in the group with 6 points behind England, who are the leader with 7 points.
Ghana coach: Croatia decided the match with their experience
Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz has expressed his frustration after the 2-1 loss to Croatia at the conclusion of Group XII of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Queiroz said, in statements quoted by beIN Sports: "Croatia started the match better than us, but the second half was a football show on our part, and the result does not reflect this show, but this is possible in football."
The veteran Portuguese coach added: "They won, we congratulate the winning team, and the plan now is to rest and recover in preparation for the knockout rounds."
He continued: "I congratulate my players for the performance in the second half, we scored a goal in the second half, but the Croatia team is special in set-pieces, and they scored their second goal from them."
He pointed out: "We tried to come back in the result, but the Croatian national team includes players with a lot of experience, and what I regret is that we conceded two goals that could have been avoided," and Carlos Queiroz concluded: "My message to the players, is that we must improve the performance in the next match."
Ghana qualified among 7 African teams for the round of 32, namely Egypt, Morocco, Cape Verde, Senegal, South Africa, and Côte d'Ivoire.
The Black Stars team collected 4 points to occupy the third place, and qualifies with Croatia, which is in second place with 6 points, and England, which is in the lead, with 7 points.
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