England needed patience rather than inspiration at the MetLife Stadium, and Jude Bellingham provided both when it mattered most. For an hour, Panama's five-man defence absorbed everything Thomas Tuchel's side could produce, and the scoreline stayed goalless. Then Bellingham broke the block on 62 minutes, Kane followed five minutes later, and Group L was settled with barely a moment of genuine alarm for England throughout the ninety.
Panama's plan was clear from the first whistle. Thomas Christiansen deployed a 5-4-1 that left Tomás Rodríguez isolated up front and gave England's back four almost nothing to worry about defensively. The trade-off was that his side sat in their own half with 33 per cent of the ball and simply asked England to find a way through. For the best part of an hour, they were doing that rather successfully, and a Panamanian who watched the first sixty minutes might reasonably have felt the plan was working.
England's 67 per cent possession was comfortable rather than threatening in the opening period. They circulated the ball patiently, Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson providing considerable industry in the wider midfield areas, but the final third proved stubborn. Panama's defensive block was well-organised enough to keep England at arm's length, and Mosquera, though not especially overworked, handled the moments he was needed. The Panamanian goalkeeper made four saves across the full match. England generated sixteen shots before the hour and too few of them tested him seriously.
The deadlock broke on 62 minutes, and it broke with real class. Bukayo Saka found Bellingham, who finished to make it 0-1. Then, with Panama still rearranging themselves, Bellingham turned provider immediately. He set up Harry Kane in the 67th minute and England were two up inside a five-minute spell that rendered the previous hour of patient build-up beside the point. Two goals in quick succession against a side that had defended diligently all evening: decisive and, when it finally arrived, genuinely ruthless.
Kane's goal was his contribution to a partnership that is forming the most reliable spine of this England side in the tournament. Bellingham finished with a goal and an assist before Tuchel withdrew him on 71 minutes, his evening's work already complete. Kane added his before leaving the pitch on 84 minutes, by which point the match had long since ceased to be a real contest.
Panama finished with 12 shots, but seven were off target and the two that troubled Pickford gave England's goalkeeper as quiet an evening as a World Cup group stage allows. Andrés Andrade and substitute José Fajardo collected yellow cards as frustration mounted in the second half, and three offsides suggested that Panama's tactical discipline occasionally frayed when they attempted to venture forward. Their expected-goals figure of 0.59 is a fair reflection of how infrequently they created anything of real menace.
England top Group L with seven points from three games, six goals scored and only two conceded. Croatia, finishing second on six points, will provide sterner opposition in the knockout rounds, but England arrive there unbeaten, with their key players largely fresh and a settled understanding of how to close out a match that had started to resist them.
The story of this game was written in a five-minute passage just past the hour. Before it, England looked capable but not ruthless. After it, the tie was done. Bellingham provided the hinge; Kane provided the certainty. Everything else was detail.