Overview
The England team will enter the final match of Group L of the 2026 World Cup with the goal of defending the top spot when facing Panama, who have officially been eliminated.
Despite disappointing with a 0-0 draw against Ghana in the previous match, the "Three Lions" still have a great advantage in the race for the number one position. Just by defeating Panama and Ghana not winning against Croatia with a gap enough to overcome sub-indices, Thomas Tuchel's team will close the group stage in the top spot.
Conversely, a slip-up could cause England to lose the advantage and face a more difficult bracket in the knockout round.
After an impressive comeback to defeat Croatia 4-2 in the opening match, England again wasted a series of opportunities against Ghana. Tuchel's team launched up to 19 shots but could not score - England's record for the most shots without scoring at the World Cup in 24 years.
Notably, England controlled the ball up to 78.9% against Ghana - the highest rate ever recorded for a team that could not score at the World Cup since 1966. Meanwhile, Ghana only launched two shots, the least that the "Three Lions" have faced in a World Cup in the same statistical period.
However, England is still rated superior to Panama. History is also on the side of the European representative when their only defeat against a CONCACAF team at the World Cup was a shocking defeat to the United States in 1950.
Panama entered this match without any chance of going further. After 0-1 defeats to Ghana and Croatia, the Central American representative has become the sixth team in World Cup history to lose all 5 of the first matches at the tournament.
This is only the second time Panama has participated in the biggest football festival on the planet. In the first time in 2018, they were at the bottom of the group after 3 consecutive defeats and conceded 11 goals, including a 1-6 defeat to England.
Coach Thomas Christiansen is likely to continue to choose a defensive counter-attacking style of play. Panama is also the team with the fewest shots in the league to date with only 32 shots after two legs.
On the England side, Thomas Tuchel is predicted to continue rotating forces to conserve energy for the knockout round. Harry Kane, who scored a hat-trick against Panama at the 2018 World Cup, may be rested to give way to Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney.
In addition, Djed Spence and Marc Guehi are also ready to compete for a starting spot, while Declan Rice is likely to still hold the role of conductor in midfield after creating 10 chances in the first two matches. Reece James is currently still uncertain about his ability to play due to fitness issues.
Head-to-head record
England and Panama have only met once before, in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup. At that time, the "Three Lions" won a resounding 6-1 victory, which was also their biggest victory in World Cup history.
In that match, Harry Kane scored a hat-trick, alongside Geoff Hurst (1966 World Cup final) and Gary Lineker (1986 World Cup) becoming the only English players to score 3 goals in a match at the biggest football festival on the planet. Besides, John Stones also scored a double against Panama.
Score prediction: Panama 0-2 England
The match between Panama and England takes place at 4:00 AM on June 28 (Vietnam time).
