ENGLAND trash PANAMA 6-1 to reach last 16

England’s young and free-flowing team banished the ghost of past national failures with a record 6-1 thrashing of a feeble Panama on Sunday that included a hat-trick by Harry Kane and eased them into the last 16.

England’s biggest-ever World Cup win, which included two penalties by Kane then a deflection off his heel, also guaranteed Belgium’s berth in the next round. England and Belgium have identical records ahead of their meeting next week to decide who tops the group.

It left the shell-shocked Central Americans out of their debut tournament with nine goals conceded in Group G. Tunisia were also eliminated.

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England defender John Stones, on scoring two goals: “That is something I never thought I’d do at the start of the day!

“It is great to get through, I remember watching four years ago and knowing how hard the lads had worked to get through. This time playing in this game it is a special moment and we wanted to do the country proud, get through to the next step and see where we can go.

“To score my first goals for England was something special, especially at a World Cup. I’d have loved to have got a clean sheet, that is something to take forward into next games and hopefully I can get a few more goals form set pieces.”

England captain Harry Kane, speaking to BBC Sport: “Fantastic. I am so, so proud of the boys.

We are just enjoying it – enjoying being here. We have been working on set pieces and working on the way we play and it is all coming together. Fantastic to be through and to do it this way is brilliant.

“The fans have been brilliant, both sets of fans to be fair, that is what the World Cup is about. We are enjoying it and we have to keep it going, not get ahead of ourselves.”

Believe England can go all the way? ”You have to believe, there is a long way to go, a lot of had work but we just have to stick to our gameplan.

“We got to go into the game against Belgium looking to win but this win gives us a bit of a cushion. We will see what happens.”

Think he could have scored more if he stayed on? ”“Maybe. The gaffer makes the decision, there is the bigger picture.”

England scored as many goals in this match as they had in their previous seven World Cup matches combined.