To start off, England demolished Panama in their World Cup Match. It’s only the group stages and fans have already began chanting the “It’s coming home” slogan. To be fair to the desperate masses, it’s about time England live up to it’s name as the class leading location to play. It has the talent, they need to mesh and that’s working out at the moment. To kick off the proceedings, John Stones scored his first ever goal for his Nation by the 8th minute. Taking advantage of a momentary Ashley Young block off, Stones uses his pace to get away and intercept the corner in a prime position. Stones duly scored at the 40 minute mark to pick up a Sterling miss.
John Stones has more world cup goals than Wayne Rooney. Pass it on #ENG #WorldCup
— Dean Kelly (@DeanKelly93) June 24, 2018
Harry Kane completed a Hat-trick, first by taking after Stones’ goal in the 20th minute. He converted a penalty after a foul on Jesse Lingard who took revenge by putting another one past with some absolutely stunning precision. Rio Ferdinand said, “The whole of England’s play here is what you want to see from us, patience and confidence and everyone showing for the ball. With the finish, this is where Jess is unbelievable – this finish was exquisite. I have seen this from this boy since he was 11 years old at Manchester United. People always questioned ‘is he going to be big enough, is he going to be strong enough’, but when you have the intelligence and game management that this kid’s got, you can be two foot tall and get through. Jesse is that intelligent, he is that good, he understands the game, and when he gets in like this, although we didn’t see it the other day when he wasn’t clinical, we all said that when he gets the chances again he will put them away, and he certainly did. That finish there – a generation of kids will remember that goal.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GDd_QcBFZo
Kane converted penalty number 2 after the Panama defense. He followed up with a cheery on top deflection off Walker to net it past Panama for the 6th time. Chelsea legend Frank Lampard summarized it best. “He just keeps producing. Nothing is a problem for him – even when they hit him on the heel, they go in – that’s when you know everything is going your way, but sometimes you make your own luck.” Panama could only score once in the second half. Which was all about not getting complacent about their first half performance as far as England were concerned.
We now move on, 3574 km west to Paul Ricard in France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTyqqjMyxlk
The ensuing first lap carnage saw Lewis Hamilton in the lead from Max Verstappen and home team Renault up to 3rd with Carlos Sainz. Who looked very racy initially but fell to fourth after Daniel Ricciardo made quick work of him. Also running high up were Kevin Magnussen, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in that order behind Sainz. Perez and Hulkenberg were 9th and 10th respectively and on Soft tires, while the others were on used rubber.
Raikkonen cleared Magnussen and Leclerc with little effort and sadly for Renault, Sainz followed but was still on for big points. Meanwhile at the rear, Vettel and Bottas were clawing their way up the field all while Hamilton was streaking into the distance. Before long the charging Vettel cleared the lone Force India of Perez and the second Renault Hulkenberg. he eventually scythed past the cars ahead to sit at fifth.
Race winner ✅
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2017
Your #F1DriverOfTheDay ✅
Well done to Sebastian Vettel ?#MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/srSOR5P6uS
A slightly odd awardee considering Hamilton dominated and we witnessed a clinical drive from Raikkonen and Verstappen. But a charge from the rear to 5th was great nonetheless. Leclerc scored a 10th cementing himself as a star in the making. The Renault’s increased their lead in 4th by finishing 9th and 10th. Magnussen was 6th scoring 8 valuable points for Haas.
Moving on to Manchester, England at Old Trafford. The English cricket side have already sealed the series against Australia. This however saw something special from player of the series Jos Butler. Australia set 206 to win. Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis departed in the 6th over after Moeen Ali caught them off again. Travis Head kept the innings going by knocking the ball to all parts off the park before being dismissed for 56 at the 11th over, relatively early. Alex Carrey and DArcy Short carried the load of scoring by contributing 44 and 47 respectively. Captain Tim Paine had yet another poor performance being dismissed cheaply after a solitary run. Ali wrapped up proceedings by sending Billy Stanlanke back to the hut and hence the Aussie’s were shot out for 205 in the 34th over. England started off poorly as well, losing half their side cheaply. At the same point in time the Aussies were double England’s total.
A mega Sunday for sports lovers saw England Sportstars come out on top in three different parts of the world. All three groups appear well set for accolades in their respective fields.
by Rutvik Bhaskar Perepa
Rutvik Bhaskar Perepa is a student at The University of Manchester working towards a MEng in Mechanical Engineering hoping to be on a placement after Year 3. He has had the privilege to travel around his home country, India and discover the rich heritage and diversity. His personal interests include Food and travel, history, Sport among many others. Often found in discourse on various issues ranging Engineering to Religious Practices, he never shy’s away from being expressive. He believes in being open minded, empathetic and analytical is the key to problems posed on a daily basis.
