England are not going to win the World Cup playing like this. They will not get very far in the knockout rounds unless they can sharpen up. But at least they have made it into them, the dream still alive, after they secured top spot in Group L on a slow-burn occasion when the result meant everything.

Thomas Tuchel needed to restore momentum after the bore draw against Ghana in game two, to rekindle the excitement from the opening game against Croatia, which England won 4-2. The manager wanted to prove a point. It did not really happen and for the opening 45 minutes it was even possible to fear the worst. Were England going to fail to prise apart another obdurate opponent?

Tuchel’s team were better after the interval. They knew that they might need only one goal and relief was the overriding emotion when Jude Bellingham stepped up. It was an expertly steered low volley from Bukayo Saka’s corner for the breakthrough, although Tuchel’s reaction was instructive. He did not celebrate. He looked annoyed.

The worries about the overall display did not melt away, the fears about how England in this mood might fare against an elite level team. But Bellingham did have the bit between his teeth and he helped to fluff up a cushion for his team. He drove up the inside-left, a typical surge, and it was a jink one way then another which a winger would have been happy to call his own. The cross was on the money for Kane to head home, the England captain scoring an 11th World Cup goal – one more than Gary Lineker; a record for the nation.

Panama exited with zero points; they have not managed one at either of their World Cup appearances but they went with a measure of pride. Tuchel has plenty to ponder; issues throughout the team. When Wonderwall played at the end of it all and the England fans joined in, it did not feel jubilant.

The game was framed – certainly in the eyes of many England supporters – by what happened when the nations met at the group stage of the 2018 World Cup. England’s 6-1 win on that occasion was built on five first-half goals. There was an expectation, a presumption that it would be more of the same, especially as Panama knew they could not progress.

This is a different version of Panama, a team regeared by Thomas Christiansen, the former Leeds manager. Their achievements are worthy of respect. They reached the quarter-finals of the 2024 Copa América and the final of the 2025 Concacaf Nations League.

Tuchel turned the dial towards attack with his selection. His idea was urgency and tempo. It was Bellingham in the No 8 role and Morgan Rogers as the No 10. Saka and Marcus Rashford were back on the wings. The headline call was Jarell Quansah at right-back in place of the injured Reece James. Declan Rice was rested as he nursed a knock and carried a yellow card.

Tuchel asked Nico O’Reilly to step up and inside from left-back when England had the ball; they built in a back three. Bellingham pushed high. Rashford drew a save out of Orlando Mosquera in the eighth minute after a surge inside and Saka was denied by a Jorge Gutiérrez block before the first hydration break.

The pickings were slim in the first half and it was easy to feel the anxiety, particularly when Panama tiptoed forward on the counter. Or the England goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, had the ball at his feet or was required to leave his line. Tuchel’s team were too open at the back, replying on a few too many one-on-ones and there were moments when Panama found spaces.

Their big moment of the first half came when José Luis Rodríguez got away up the inside-left on 26 minutes and banged low for the near corner. Quansah had left the space, which was not an isolated episode. Pickford saved. Los Canaleros were compact in their 5-4-1 formation but they did not sit deep. It was not a bus-parking exercise from them.

England laboured to find a way through before the interval. They were slow and predictable. When England worked the ball out to Saka or Rashford, as they did frequently, Panama simply shuffled across. They had fun defending because England could not work themselves in behind. Rashford headed a half-chance over at the back post and also curled a free-kick wide before the interval.

There had been a scramble beforehand for disposal waterproof ponchos. The rain lashed down at kick-off; the temperature nothing more than 23C. The English conditions were made for a Premier League performance. That was the theory.

Tuchel did not change anything for the second half. He continued to believe in the capacity of his players to make it happen; to find some incision, some rhythm. Rashford continued to charge and frustrate – in equal measure. Kane back-heeled to Bellingham, who did not shoot. Bellingham played in Kane, who did, hard and high, but it was too close to Mosquera.

Tuchel had to substitute Quansah after a collision with Rodríguez; on came Djed Spence. And the manager wanted to replace Saka with Noni Madueke. Happily, he held off until the corner from which England unlocked the stalemate. Saka sent it in and Bellingham was too strong for Gutiérrez; too cute, too. Bellingham hung out a leg and steered the ball home. Thank goodness for the Real Madrid star. Kane had reason to say the same thing shortly after. England have ticked off phase one.