Group G was a breeze, but how far can England go?

England will face Colombia in the last 16 of the World Cup. What did we learn from their opening three matches, and can Southgate take them all the way?

Well that was all pleasantly low-key and trouble-free, wasn’t it? You’d think it should be when faced with Tunisia and Panama to secure a spot in the knock-out phase. However, England’s recent tournament record has been so poor that nothing could be taken for granted. Gareth Southgate has started his first major tournament in charge well.

Gone are the defeats to Iceland or the dour draws with Costa Rica, and in has come high quality chances, and in the Panama game, a hat-full of goals to give England their biggest ever World Cup win. The Panamanian team aren’t great, but the Three Lions had never won a game on the global stage by a higher scoreline than 3-0, so Southgate deserves credit.

I’ll be honest here, I didn’t see it coming. While I thought England would sneak past Tunisia and Panama, they have been such a low-scoring side under Southgate that I never expected them to repeatedly carve those sides apart.

It was no surprise they didn’t score hat fulls in recent friendlies against Germany, Brazil and Italy, but they only beat the likes of Slovenia and Lithuania 1-0 earlier this season too. So where have the goals come from?

They certainly prospered from set-pieces, scoring twice against both Tunisia and Panama from dead ball situations. England had gone 72 corners and eight years without scoring from one at a major tournament, but they ended that record in style here.

Statistics would suggest that being good at set pieces can be largely random; Liverpool once scored 26 league goals from set pieces one season, then just six the next. However, as Gareth Southgate has deliberately identified it as an area to focus on then kudos to him.

As the quality of opponent increases, and the games get tighter, the value of set pieces will only increase further. Their apparent ability in this area could prove vital in the knock out stages; equally, they did struggle at times to create chances in open play.

If Harry Kane doesn’t score, it’s clear the team is light on goals. Even his only open play goal so far was via deflecting a shot from Ruben Loftus-Cheek which he knew nothing about. The finishing displayed by Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy in Kane’s absence against Belgium left England fans pining for their captain.

Although they were largely dead-ball reliant to beat Tunisia, the performance was encouraging, and especially in the first half. England registered an expected goal tally of 3.46 (in the opinion of InfoGol) which was the second highest by any side in the group stage. Belgium topped that total in their match with Tunisia which says a lot, but long-suffering England fans have seen many games pass by with barely a chance worthy of the name.

Southgate’s side then mustered a similar tally against Panama, albeit two penalties boosted the figure considerably. But again, other nations have faced poor teams in Russia without having anywhere near as many decent opportunities.

The manager also made good use of his squad, by making changes for the Belgium match. Across the three games, John Stones was the only outfield player who started every match, while Danny Welbeck was the only one who didn’t start any. They will have all felt involved, and without feeling burned out either.

The match with the Belgians should’ve been England’s only real test in the group. However, with both teams already through it was less fiercely contested than your average friendly. Southgate will be disappointed his team lost, but it shouldn’t impact the good feeling he has built in his squad. It has also potentially opened an easier route through the knock-out stage, so may prove beneficial.

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All things considered, it was a drama-free group stage for England. Yet as much as England deserved to beat Tunisia, it took until injury time for them to do so. The Belgium match was a dead rubber to all extents, and Panama were dreadful. So what did we learn, and was it surprising Southgate’s team cruised through the group?

It’s really hard to say. For once, nobody really knew what to expect from the Three Lions. Weighed down by largely unrealistic fan and media expectation for so many years, they arrived in Russia with nobody assuming that they would get particularly far.

And of course, they still haven’t. England are currently joint-12th in the FIFA rankings, and the bookmakers rated them as the eighth most likely country to win the World Cup. With the draw they had, the last 16 was a minimum requirement, and a quarter-final berth a very realistic aim.

So it could all come crashing down from here onwards, and their good early work will all be forgotten. Colombia are up next, and while they haven’t looked great, they do have individual talents who are capable of brilliance. It’s too early for England to dream of glory, but Southgate appears to have them on the right path.