Panama boss congratulates Southgate midway through match as England put Panamanians out of World Cup

In the group stage match between England and Panama yesterday, the Three Lions gave a good account of themselves, beating the Central Americans 6-1.

Striker Harry Kane became only the third England player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup following in the illustrious footsteps of Sir Geoff Hurst and the great Gary Lineker.

The image, during the match, that would not be forgotten in a hurry was that of Panama manager Dario Gomez seeking out England manager Gareth Southgate at the break for a brief chat.

He was asked after the match what he had said to the Three Lions boss with the result already as good as confirmed.

Gomez told reporters: 

“I went to congratulate him (Southgate) at half-time.

“I told him I really like his team. England are totally spectacular, a beautiful team.

“I think that the difference of goals could have been more – we could have actually conceded more goals.

“As to our football, we’ve tried to play against England but there’s a huge difference between our two teams.

“To concede five goals in the first half, two penalties, two set-pieces, where England were very, very effective, well, what we did was try to avoid a bigger catastrophe.”