But they had no way of threatening England — and that has been their story all tournament. Without Carrasquilla and Godoy, there was no creativity, no goals, and no threat on the break. They kept it respectable until the last half hour, then Bellingham took over and the game was gone. Panama exit without a single goal scored in the group stage.
Tuchel made 5 changes from the previous lineup and it showed — England were slow and disjointed for most of the first half, unable to break down Panama's block. Jarell Quansah made his tournament debut. Declan Rice and Reece James were both absent from the starting XI. The first 60 minutes were not pretty. Then Bellingham turned it on.
He flicked home Saka's corner at 62' to open the scoring, then whipped a cross onto Kane's head at 67' to kill the game. Kane's goal was his 11th at World Cups, breaking Gary Lineker's record as England's all-time leading scorer at the tournament. England top Group L with 7 points and advance to the Round of 32, where they have every reason to be confident about the bracket.
We went 3-for-3 on this one. The moneyline on England was the safe call — the market had them at 86% favorites and they delivered exactly that. The real value was on the spread: Panama +2.5 covered because England only won by 2, just as our rotation bull case predicted. And the under 3.5 cashed easily with 2 total goals — Panama were shut out a third straight game and England never threatened to pile on. Rice and James both missing killed England's cutting edge for an hour, which is exactly what we flagged. But Bellingham and Kane were too good to be denied. England are through; Panama are done.
England0-2
Croatia0-1
Ghana0-1
Mexico3-2
DR Congo2-1Panama2-0Ghana0-0Croatia4-2