OdishaLIVE Bureau
Russia witnessed quality football contest with three clashes on sunday
- England defeat Panama by 6-1 in the opening match of the day
- Japan draw Senegal with 2-2 in a disciplined show in the second match
- Colombia beat Poland 3-0 in the third match
As the FIFA World Cup moves towards the business end of the tournament, we experienced some high goal scoring matches yesterday. In the first match of the day, England played Panama in the Nizhny Novgorodstadium. England came into this match with confidence after their captain Harry Kane won them their last match at the last minute and were hoping to qualify into the knockout stages with a win against Panama. Earlier, Panama had been battered by Belgium in their last match and had less hope in this encounteras well.
England were too much for Panama as they thrashed them 6-1 with the likes of Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard and John Stones amongst the goals. Harry Kane scored a hat trick this time, scoring two penalties and a deflected goal. He now overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo and RomeluLukakuand becomes thetop scorer in the tournament. Jesse Lingard scored a beauty with his curling effort at goal while John Stones opened the scoring and added another goal to his name, later in the match.
The most interesting moment in the match came when Panama made history at a World Cup tournament scoring their first goal in the 78th minute when Filepe Baloy volleyed in goal from a free kick and the reaction of the Panama fans were equivalent to scoring a last-minute winner even when they were losing 6-1 on aggregate.
The second match of the day witnessed Japan play Senegal in the Central stadium at Yekaterinburg. Both teams have had fantastic starts to their World Cup with both winning their first match. Sadio Mane opened the scoring for Senegal in the 11th minute with a school boy error in goal by the Japanese goalkeeper, Kawashima and for most parts of the first half Senegal were in control. But, Japan equalised through Takashi Inui in the 34th minute. Senegal took their lead again in the 71st minute when Wague blasted the ball past through the Japanese goal.
But, Japan showed their determination, desire, passion and equalised again in the 78th minute through the veteran Kesiuke Honda and the match ended 2-2. Japan showed their discipline and determination throughout the game but were wasteful in front of goal. The amount of chances they created later in the 2nd half was enough for any team to win a match.
The final match of the day was played between Poland and Colombia in the Kazan Arena in Kazan. Both teams were little happy going into the game as their other group members dropped points in the previous match.This was important for both, Poland and Colombia especially after both lost their first match. The team losing this match would be knocked out of the competition and the winning team would keep its momentum going into the final match of the group stage, hoping to qualify in the knockout stages. Thus, it was a match of much intensity. But Robert Lewandowski and Poland failed to show up and take this opportunity as they were defeated 3-0 by Colombia.
The match was poised even until Yerry Mina scored a header from a James Rodriguez cross and Colombia cruised thereafter. Radamel Falcao, their star striker scored in the 70th minute and later Juan Cuadrado scored in the 75th minute. Their main man, James Rodriguez assisted two goals and put in a man of the match performance. Poland have been knocked out of the tournament while Colombia keep their hopes alive going into their defining game against Senegal in the last match of the group stages.
(Story: Raunaq Dash, Edit: Sriram Singh Rattan)
