Bellingham and Kane strike as England seal top spot with World Cup win over Panama

England are not going to win the World Cup playing like this. They will not get very far in the knockout rounds unless they can sharpen up. But at least they have made it into them, the dream still alive, after they secured top spot in Group L on a slow-burn occasion when the result meant everything. Thomas Tuchel needed to restore momentum after the bore draw against Ghana in game two, to rekindle the excitement from the opening game against Croatia, which England won 4-2 . The manager wanted to prove a point. It did not really happen and for the opening 45 minutes it was even possible to fear the worst. Were England going to fail to prise apart another obdurate opponent? Tuchel’s team were better after the interval. They knew that they might need only one goal and relief was the overriding emotion when Jude Bellingham stepped up. It was an expertly steered low volley from Bukayo Saka’s corner for the breakthrough, although Tuchel’s reaction was instructive. He did not celebrate. He looked annoyed. The worries about the overall display did not melt away, the fears about how England in this mood might fare against an elite level team. But Bellingham did have the bit between his teeth and he helped to fluff up a cushion for his team. He drove up the inside-left, a typical surge, and it was a jink one way then another which a winger would have been happy to call his own. …