England secured first place in Group L after a 2-0 victory against Panama on June 27, finishing the group with 7 points [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Harry Kane scored his 11th World Cup goal, surpassing Gary Lineker’s previous England record of 10, with a winning header assisted by Jude Bellingham [6, 1, 3, 7, 4, 5]. Bellingham also scored the opening goal and played a key role in the match, with the young midfielder saying, "Personally, it was nice to put some of the noise aside and just show my country and my teammates how committed I am to helping us try to win games" [1, 3, 4, 5] and "He continues to raise his level and it is incredible. It’s everything he deserves. You see the effort he puts in as captain and how he leads" about Kane [3].
Despite dominating possession for much of the first half, England faced a physical Panama side that proved difficult to break down early on [1, 3, 5]. Manager Thomas Tuchel praised his squad's resilience and team spirit, stating, "We did what was needed. It was what we expected: a tough match against a physical opponent. They are a difficult team to score against and we were the only team to create this amount of chances and score twice" and adding, "Good performance, happy he is in this kind of shape and everyone did what they needed to do, and Jude was a big part of that" [3, 4]. However, England’s right-back Jarell Quansah suffered an ankle injury and is doubtful for the next match [4].
Croatia finished second in Group L with 6 points after a 2-1 win over Ghana also on June 27 [8, 9, 10, 11]. Nikola Vlasic scored a late header from a Luka Modric corner to secure the victory [8, 9, 10, 11]. Modric, who became the oldest player at a World Cup to provide an assist, played a key defensive role against Ghana as well [10, 11]. Croatia’s coach Zlatko Dalic said, "I think we're back to where we were, like nine years ago. But that's again a small step to achieve the first objective, to go to the knockout stage," while praising Modric’s leadership and energy at his final World Cup [10, 11].
Ghana finished third in the group with 4 points and also qualified for the knockout stage [8, 10].
England will face one of the eight best third-placed teams in the knockout Round of 32, while Croatia is set to meet the likely second-place team in Group K, either Portugal or Colombia, on July 2 in Toronto [8, 1, 7, 10]. The next phase will test both teams after their strong group showings.
