England Face Panama Tonight With Kane Misfiring, Declan Rice Doubtful and Reece James Out

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England kick off against Panama at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at 10pm BST tonight needing a win to guarantee topping Group L. Thomas Tuchel goes into the game with a mounting injury list and a creativity problem that the Ghana draw exposed brutally. Reece James is out with an injury sustained during the tournament. Declan Rice picked up a fresh calf issue after the Ghana game and left the stadium with heavy strapping on his leg. Kobbie Mainoo is on standby to fill the midfield alongside Elliot Anderson. Bukayo Saka is also managing an Achilles problem and has been carefully handled in training.

The concern about Harry Kane goes beyond physical fitness. Kane missed the team's best chance against Ghana and has looked less than his best in both group games, drawing comparisons to his form at previous major tournaments where he sometimes takes time to find his rhythm. The winger positions have also been a source of worry. Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke were both ineffective against Ghana and Tuchel is expected to bring in Marcus Rashford and possibly Eberechi Eze to try to unlock a deeper defensive block. The Alexander-Arnold and Foden omissions, which seemed defensible before the Ghana draw, are being debated again.

England have qualified for the knockouts regardless of tonight's result, which is the main thing. A win sends them through as Group L winners, which under the new Wimbledon-style seeding system keeps them away from Spain and Argentina until at least the semi-finals and away from France until the final. A draw or loss could mean a trickier path. Panama were beaten by both Ghana and Croatia and are eliminated but showed against Croatia that they will not simply roll over.

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