Colombian captain Radamel Falcao powered his country to a convincing 3-0 victory over an extremely overwhelmed Polish side. Falcao grabbed the second Colombian goal with an exquisite finish from a very delicate pass from playmaker Juan Quintero in the 70^th minute. Barcelona man Yerry Mina opened the scoring for Colombia in the first half with a powerful header from a well-placed cross from James Rodriguez in the 40^th minute. James Rodriguez was again in the thick of things with another timely pass to Juan Cuadrado on the break to extend the lead to 3-0 in the second half.

Colombia looked extremely dangerous and the difference between their performance today and in their first game against Japan was like night and day. The trio of Cuadrado, Rodriguez and Quintero in midfield were extremely formidable and is as good as any combination in the World Cup. However, the main story is Radamel Falcao who scored his first World Cup goal after he missed the last World Cup in 2014 due to a career-ending injury that has slowed him down.

Senegal’s sloppiness cost them as they were pegged to a 2-2 draw against Japan. Sadio Mané opened the scoring with a fairly fortuitous goal after Japanese goalkeeper Elji Kawashima punched the ball to his feet to hit the back of the net. However, the Japanese fought back and Takashi Inui levelled the game in the 34^th minute before halftime. Senegal retook the lead after Moussa Wague slotted a good finish into the box. It was expected that Senegal will have enough to see the game out, but a howler from Senegalese goalkeeper Khadim N’Diaye ensured that Keisuke Honda levelled the game again to draw parity for Japan.

The result effectively means that Senegal’s last game against Colombia will be the decider for second round qualification, and it will be incredibly hard after their morale-boosting convincing 3-0 victory over Poland today.

England pounced on World Cup, Panama newbies like hungry lions by defeating them 6-1 at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in their Group G encounter on Sunday. John Stones opened in the 8^th with a free header from a corner. Jesse Lingard was brought down in the box and Harry Kane converted the resulting spot-kick. Harry Kane had another spot-kick in the 45^th minute of the first half and made no mistake to make the scoreline 5-0 at halftime after John Stones grabbed his second and Lingard scored a stunner from outside the box.

Harry Kane grabbed his hat-trick after Reuben Loftus-Cheek’s shot was deflected off his leg into the Panama net. Kane is now the top goal scorer in the World Cup with five goals, ahead of Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo, who both have four goals. Panama were extremely shambolic and seemed like they had no business playing in the World Cup. However, they did have silver lining as Felipe Baloy grabbed Panama’s first ever World Cup goal in the 78^th minute.

Ade Thompson