3 reasons why England deserved to beat Panama 6-1

#1 Dominance in set-pieces

FBL-WC-2018-MATCH30-ENG-PAN — Stones heads home his second of the evening

John Stones headed home in the 8th minute to take England's set-piece conversion tally to 3. That was 3 in 3, at the time. Shortly afterwards, Harry Kane banged one in from the spot and the striker's finish oozed with confidence.

But the real surprise was yet to come. After Lingard put the result beyond doubt, England went on to pull off a sophisticated freekick routine that paid dividends. Trippier took the freekick short to Henderson who flicked it into the box. Hendo's ball was met at the right side of the post by Kane and he headed it across goal.

Raheem Sterling should have nodded it home but somehow, Penedo had it covered. However, the Panama goalkeeper could only parry it straight to John Stones who poked it home without causing further complications.

6 of England's 8 goals in this World Cup have come from set-pieces and they really look like a difficult team to negotiate with from the dead ball.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Amit Mishra