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Panama’s manager appeared to tell Gareth Southgate to keep the score at five

Published 14:57 24 Jun 2018 BST

Darragh Murphy
Panama’s manager appeared to tell Gareth Southgate to keep the score at five

Homesport

Well, that escalated quickly.

England have guaranteed a place in the knockout stages of the World Cup after coasting to a 6-1 victory over Panama on Sunday afternoon. Gareth Southgate's side ran riot in the opening half, scoring five unanswered goals against a side who looked more focused on grappling than getting on the scoresheet themselves. After testing supporters' nerves in their opening game, England made their second Group G outing a much more enjoyable watch for their fans as they sauntered their way to victory. A hat-trick from Harry Kane, a brace from John Stones and a wonder strike from Jesse Lingard means that the final group game against Belgium is essentially a first-place play-off. Viewers couldn't help but catch a glimpse of a strange conversation which took place as the players emerged from the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium tunnel after half-time. Before the second half kicked off, Panama manager Hernan Dario Gomez wandered over to the English dugout for a chat with his opposite number. Gomez showed Southgate an open palm with as if to make the gesture for "five is enough" and the England boss acknowledged the comment by mirroring the motion. Now nobody knows what the conversation was actually about and England didn't show their opponents much mercy after the break as Kane secured his hat-trick and sent his side into the last 16 of the World Cup but Panama did get themselves a goal thanks to a late consolation courtesy of Felipe Baloy. https://twitter.com/DaleBrogan/status/1010871046843625473 https://twitter.com/JSoccerMagazine/status/1010871070956515328 https://twitter.com/TuahaSohail/status/1010871104393629696 https://twitter.com/bigpatchyquan/status/1010871110110535680 https://twitter.com/MainManMori/status/1010871114413854720 https://twitter.com/theproperKP/status/1010871145174917120 https://twitter.com/SimbaGul/status/1010871203165360128 https://twitter.com/themexicanlad/status/1010871215882457088 https://twitter.com/rakimunruly/status/1010871731630768134 https://twitter.com/peraisakop/status/1010871651209277440