‘Panama found themselves in front of a cyclone’: The world's media reacts to England’s record World Cup win
Harry Kane in particular was singled out for a stunning hat-trick performance
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Your support makes all the difference.“If the Panama team have often been called the Red Sea,” began L’Equipe, “it was very much they who were submerged in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday.”
England’s emphatic win over Panama , a 6-1 drubbing that could have been much worse had England not taken their foot off the gas at half-time, understandably made headlines around the world.
“England hadn’t scored five goals in a World Cup… and then they did it in 45 minutes,” noted Marca in Spain.
“Panama found themselves in front of a cyclone, they came up against a deluge of goals and found themselves inundated.”
The Spaniards also noted England’s set piece prowess: “They’re a danger whenever the ball is still. Against Panama’s inactivity there was an abyss between the two teams.”
“This was not a match,” said Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy. “This was an English stroll in the heat of Nizhny.”
Gazzetta also have England second overall in their World Cup power rankings, commenting that “Southgate’s team entered this World Cup with a security and a specularity that historically they never have.”
Harry Kane’s hat-trick was, inevitably, a source of much conversation.
In Argentina they mention that “the student has surpassed the master” with reference to last October, when Diego Maradona visited Kane before Tottenham’s game with Liverpool, helping the Spurs man with some advice that helped spur him on to a two-goal display at Wembley.
Kane’s hat-trick on Sunday, though, took the England captain past Diego Maradona’s career goals haul on football’s biggest stage: “Kane broke Maradona’s World Cup record and now he’s gunning for more.”
“The Hurricane,” wrote Marca, “blew away Panama… at 24 years old he is already in the England hall of fame.
“Against Tunisia he was the saviour and against Panama, the executioner.”
“Kane is already on five goals after two games,” note Globo in Brazil.
“That already would have been enough to win the Golden Boot in 2006 and 2010, he is one away from the total needed in 2014 or any of the World Cups going back to 1978, excluding the eight goals of Ronaldo in 2002.”
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