England

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Speaking ahead of kick off, England manager Gareth Southgate told BBC Sport: "We think we will have the vast majority of play which is good in this heat because we will control the tempo, but we have got to use our width properly and discipline will be the key. It is not a good day for a light blue shirt but I won't be able to be hide much."

On the match: "We have got to focus on the performance and ensure we play with intelligence. Panama have certain threats that we have got to be ready for, and we have to play with patience as Germany and Brazil have showed in recent nights."

Panama's 37-year-old striker Blas Perez is 'a character.'

He celebrates goals with a horns-up gesture in tribute of his father, who was called “The Bull.” Perez himself is nicknamed Super Raton which is the Spanish translation of the cartoon character Mighty Mouse. His Twitter handle is @superraton7.

Image source, .

His body is covered in tattoos, many of which pay homage to Panama: “People sometimes tell me, Blas, you are crazy,” he says of his designs. “How can you get a tattoo of your country’s flag? No, because I like it. I really feel a lot of love for Panama.”

Image source, Getty Images

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Meet, Kobe, Max, Niall, Jacob and Kyle. Five cheeky eight-year-old boys, sport mad, best mates and all massive England fans.

"All the boy's mums have been mates for 20 years!" Jacob's dad Steve told BBC Sport.

"Our families all lived on the same estate in Widnes, Cheshire but it wasn't planned like this!

Read the full story here.

BBC One

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Away we go...

The Three Lions face Hernan Dario Gomez's side in Nizhny Novgorod, but how much do you know about the Panamanians?

Image source, BBC Sport

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IF ENGLAND WIN

Qualification will be secured with a game to spare, setting up a final clash with Belgium on Thursday which will decide the group winners. Southgate's side currently have a goal difference of one - Belgium's is six - so a win against the Red Devils would likely be needed to finish top.

IF ENGLAND DRAW

A place in the last 16 will be close, but not certain. They would still need a point against Belgium but a defeat in that final game, coupled with a Panama win over Tunisia, could leave England vulnerable on goal difference.

IF ENGLAND LOSE

It's the end of the world. But England and Panama would go into the final game on three points, meaning whoever got the better result in their respective final fixtures would qualify. If both teams win they would be left in a three-way tie with Belgium, with the two teams with the best goal difference going through.

Mark Lawrenson
BBC football expert

When I was at their game against Belgium in Sochi, I saw that Panama will give everything they have got, but we also saw their limitations as a team.

England should beat them easily enough and I don't see them having too many problems, especially after they make the initial breakthrough.

Prediction: 3-0

Read the rest of Lawro's predictions here.

Don't worry - Panama are wearing RED today.

England line up as expected.

Manchester City midfielder Raheem Sterling retains his place in the team and Crystal Palace midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek comes in for the injured Dele Alli.

Line-up: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Loftus-Cheek, Henderson, Lingard, Young, Sterling, Kane.

Subs: Butland, Rose, Dier, Vardy, Welbeck, Cahill, Jones, Delph, Rashford, Alli, Alexander-Arnold, Pope.

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As for Panama, their coach Hernan Dario Gomez names the same XI that started in the 3-0 defeat by Belgium last week.

Line-up: Penedo, Murillo, Roman Torres, Escobar, Davis, Barcenas, Cooper, Gomez, Godoy, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Perez.

Subs: Calderon, Cummings, Gabriel Torres, Diaz, Machado, Pimentel, Arroyo, Ovalle, Tejada, Avila, Baloy, Alex Rodriguez.

Image source, .

Harry Kane has scored both of England’s goals so far at World Cup 2018. The last England player to score more goals in the group stages of a World Cup tournament was Gary Lineker in 1986 (3).

It's just turned 6am in Panama City and the crowd have just asked our BBC staff if they are selling beer.

Could be a lively one!

It's been a while since Raheem Sterling scored for England.

It was October, 2015 in fact.

Jeremy Corbyn had just been elected as the new leader of the Labour party, Nadiya had just won the Bake Off and Piers Morgan was yet to start his job on Good Morning Britain.

It was a very different time.

Chris Sutton
Ex-Chelsea striker on BBC Radio 5 live

I would've kept Sterling in. I think he is more creative than Rashford. He is a big confidence player and dropping him would have really damaged him. This could be the game he gets his mojo back. On his day, he as a lot to offer and we can't discard him after a couple of poor games.

Repeat after me: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER, write off the Germans.

Seconds away from elimination and Toni Kroos pulls that out of the very top drawer. Die Mannschaft are truly the masters of mental strength.

Brilliant.

Frank Lampard
Former England & Chelsea midfielder

Image source, Getty Images

Ruben Loftus-Cheek is making his first competitive start for England - and I know he will be ready.

Ruben is someone I know really well from when he was coming through the youth ranks at Chelsea. He is 22 now, but he probably came on to my radar when he was 15 because he was so highly spoken of.

He would occasionally come and train with us in the first team from the age of 16, because he was that advanced.

Image source, Getty Images

Straight away he made an impression because of his physical attributes, but he knew how to play too - he had great ability and even then he could drift past people on the ball.

He does that even better now, with his pace and power when he is running at you, which makes him different from a lot of modern-day midfield players - and puts a fear into the opposition that they do not usually have.

That is what he will bring to England's midfield against Panama, and his versatility makes him even more unique.

Read more insight from Frank here

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