England vs. Panama: Team News, Live Stream, TV Info for World Cup 2018
June 23, 2018
England have made a habit of struggling in the group stage at recent World Cups.
Four years ago in Brazil, they failed to make the knockout rounds after picking up just a point, and at South Africa 2010, the Three Lions needed a 1-0 win against Slovenia to scrape into the last 16.
Not since 2006 have England enjoyed the serenity of winning both of their opening group games, but they need only down Panama on Sunday in Nizhny Novgorod to achieve that goal at Russia 2018.
Here are all the key details for a crucial Group G clash:
Date: Sunday, June 24
Time: 3 p.m. local time, 1 p.m. BST, 8 a.m. ET
TV Info: Live on BBC1 (UK) and FS1 (U.S.)
Live Stream: BBC iPlayer, Fox Soccer Match Pass
Dele Alli looks set to miss England's clash against Panama after visibly struggling for much of the Tunisia game before being taken off.
Per BBC Sport, he is likely to be replaced in midfield by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The Chelsea man made a major impact against Tunisia despite playing only 10 minutes as a substitute, and he will surely relish the opportunity of a starting berth.
Another change that England manager Gareth Southgate is widely expected to make is to replace Raheem Sterling with Marcus Rashford. The Manchester United man also made an impact from the bench in the Three Lions' opener, per statistician David O'Brien:
Panama held their own for a half in their opener against Belgium but were eventually undone by the Red Devils and lost 3-0 after goals from Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku (2) after the break.
England may not be world-beaters, but they should certainly have enough to see off Los Canaleros, who came through CONCACAF qualifying with a negative goal difference after winning just three of their 10 matches in the Hexagonal.
Captain Harry Kane will relish the opportunity to test Panama's brittle defence and could well add to his tournament tally after a double against Tunisia.
Southgate's men may need to be patient, as the Central American outfit are sure to try to stifle England's attack rather than be enterprising going forward.
Crucially for England, though, they have pace on their side, and the likes of Rashford and Jesse Lingard could run Panama ragged and set up the Three Lions for a second win on the bounce.