England finished top of Group L and set up a round of 32 match in Atlanta as they beat Panama 2-0 in New Jersey. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane scored the second-half goals for the Three Lions, ensuring they finished above Croatia, Ghana, and Panama, who had already been eliminated. England must still wait to discover their last-32 opponents, but DR Congo and Senegal are the likeliest teams to lie in wait next for Thomas Tuchel’s team.
Player Ratings
Jordan Pickford 6: Kept a clean sheet but didn’t have as good distribution as usual.
Jarell Quansah 6: England are running out of right-backs! Did well, despite a booking, as he stood in for the injured Reece James but then had to go off injured himself.
Ezri Konsa 6: Was assured at the back. The referee blew for a couple of fouls which were harsh on the Aston Villa man.
Marc Guehi 7: Good in the air and marauded forward with the ball in impressive fashion. Looks Konsa’s centre-back partner for good now.
Nico O’Reilly 6: Came back into the team and his positioning was far better than against Croatia.
Elliot Anderson 7: Took a while to get into the game but produced some important tackles and kept England ticking over.
Jude Bellingham 9: Perhaps his most complete performance yet in a major tournament for England. Scored, assisted, tackled, worked ferociously hard. Won England the game from the No8 position.
Bukayo Saka 7: From open play, things didn’t quite happen for the Arsenal man as he made his first start of the tournament. But his final contribution was to assist the opener with a corner, before heading off. So a telling impact in the end.
Morgan Rogers 6: A quiet outing for the attacking midfielder, but he worked extremely hard as he played ahead of Bellingham.
Marcus Rashford 6: Had a frustrating time of it. Came close with an early shot when cutting in and put wide from a direct free-kick, but things didn’t quite come off.
Harry Kane 7: Scored his third goal of these World Cup finals to become England’s all-time leading scorer in the competition’s history.
Substitutes
Djed Spence (Quansah, 63’) 5: His end product in the final third was poor, as it often is, but he worked tirelessly.
Noni Madueke (Saka, 63’) 6: Tried to make things happen when he came on. Might have assisted Eberechi Eze with a nice lay-off if Eze had not been tackled.
Eberechi Eze (Bellingham, 71’) 5: Got between the lines but failed to add to England’s impressive day.
Jordan Henderson (Anderson, 84’) N/A
Ollie Watkins (Kane, 84’) N/A
Not used: Rice, Stones, Chalobah, D Henderson, Burn, Mainoo, Gordon, Toney, Trafford.
