England Captain Harry Kane praised his team-mates for the professional manner in which they dealt with Panama as they cruised to a 6-1 victory to qualify for the last 16.
Man of the moment Kane scored a hat-trick as England joined Belgium on six points from two games to ensure both countries advanced from Group G.
Manchester City centre back John Stones scored twice while Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard also got on the scoresheet along with Kane. The Spurs forward now joins Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker as hat-trick heroes for England in World Cup finals.
Speaking to BBC sport after the game Kane was delighted with the way his side advanced from the group with a game to spare and was happy to see the work they have done on set-pieces pay off against Panama.
“I’m so, so proud of the boys, we’re just enjoying it, just enjoying being here,” Kane said .”We knew it was going to be tough and they started pretty well but we’ve been working on our set-pieces, we’ve been working on the way we want to play and it’s all coming together.
“It’s a brilliant result, fantastic to be through and to do it in this way is brilliant.”
It was an emphatic win for Gareth Southgate’s men who have started with a bang and Kane is happy for supporters to dream of success on the world stage but he knows there is a long way to go if he is to lift the trophy on July 15.
“You have to believe, to achieve anything you want in life you have to believe,” Kane said.”There’s still a long way to go and a lot of hard work to go but we’ve just got to stick together and keep to our game plan and that’s the most important thing.”
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