England go into their second match of the World Cup against Panama on Sunday afternoon knowing that a win will send them into the knockout stages of the competition with a match to spare before their crunch game with Belgium on Thursday night.
The prognosis is not so good for Panama who must find a way to defeat England to realistically remain in the competition as a draw would not be enough given the size of their negative goal difference.
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England
While there was an element of a performance of two halves about England’s first match there was an awful lot to like about it. The first 25 minutes or so were some of the best football that an England team has played at a major tournament for quite some time and when they were pegged back they stuck to their plan and got their reward.
That will serve them well over the remainder of the tournament. A tight and tough match is never a bad thing if you come out on top in it. The obvious question mark will come in the form of their defence and we might not find out too much in that regard in this one but England have a chance to put another sizeable marker down here.
Panama
The North Americans of Panama were game opponents for Belgium in their opening match but they were mighty fortunate that the Europeans didn’t fancy the job for long periods as the gulf in class was there to see in the flashes of moments that Belgium did actually turn it on. That is the big concern for them in this match.
There was an element of trying to contain Belgium about their performance which I didn’t like. If I was a neutral in this one I would like to see Panama try and take the game to England because the pace, skill and movement in this England front line will open up their defence at will. Panama have to win this match so how defensive they can afford to be is open to debate.
Team News
England are likely to be without midfielder Dele Alli who suffered a thigh injury in the win over Tunisia. The infamous paper leak seemed to reveal that Ruben Loftus-Cheek will replace him in the side. Marcus Rashford could also come in for Raheem Sterling.
Panama coach Hernan Dario Gomez has already made it clear that he will name an unchanged side from the defeat to Belgium with Roman Torres the man given the task of handling Harry Kane.
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Betting
I’m fully behind England in this match. Panama could not handle Belgium the longer that match went on and there is no way that England will begin this one as slowly as the Red Devils did. I expect England to power out of the traps and claim an early advantage and then there is enough of a swagger and a confidence in them to go and run up the score rather than sit and hold what they have. The win in the opening match means England can express themselves here and the longer the match goes on the further clear I expect England to get. I’ll load up on the -1.5 and -2.5 Asian lines.
The other bet I like in this match is for Panama to pick up more than 2.5 cards. They were shown five yellow cards in a slow paced match against Belgium but you could see all they could do to contain was hold and kick anything that moves. The movement in this England side will be something else to what they are used to and I expect the fouls to rack up. We have an Egyptian referee for this match and African arbiters tend to take no nonsense so I fully believe the cards will be collected in batches by the North Americans.
Tips
WON – Back England (-1.5AH) to beat Panama for a 7/10 stake at 1.81 with BetVictor
Back them here:
WON – Back England (-2.5AH) to beat Panama for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Unibet
Back them here:
WON – Back Panama – Over 2.5 cards for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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