The opening round of the World Cup group stage continued with European nations Sweden and Belgium registering comfortable wins.
A young England side needed a late goal to squeak past African nation Tunisia.
England 2 - 1 Tunisia
A stoppage-time header from two-goal Harry Kane gave England a 2-1 win over Tunisia in their opening World Cup Group G match on Monday.
A 35th minute Ferjani Sassi penalty had cancelled out Kane's 11th minute opener.
After the break, England, who had wasted several good chances in the first half, struggled to break down the deep defending African side.
But from a Kieran Trippier corner, a glancing header from Harry Maguire found Kane at the back post and he nodded home to give England a winning start.
Belgium 3 - 0 Panama
Belgium's creativity and power proved too much for World Cup debutants Panama as the Group G favourites overcame the heroics of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo and a massed defence to run out 3-0 winners on Monday.
It took a wonderful dipping volley from Dries Mertens on the right-hand edge of the area just after halftime to break the deadlock, however, giving Penedo no chance after a first half in which he had defied Mertens, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku.
Hazard laid the ball off to Kevin De Bruyne who flipped a diagonal ball with the outside of his foot through for a lurking Lukaku to head home in the 69th minute.
The Manchester United striker made it 3-0 in the 75th, latching on to a through pass from Hazard and chipping over Penedo.
Belgium, unbeaten in their last 20 matches, will now be full of confidence for games against Tunisia and England.
(Reuters)
Sweden 1 - 0 South Korea
Sweden won an opening World Cup game for the first time since 1958 and ended a worrying goal drought with a 1-0 victory over South Korea in a must-win match if they want to progress from a tricky-looking Group F.
After dominating the game but missing a string of chances, the Swedes won a 65th-minute penalty when Kim Min-woo brought down Viktor Claesson in the box. Salvadoran referee Joel Aguilar initially waved the Swedes away, before being called to consult the Video Assistant Referee system.
In the second VAR-awarded penalty of the World Cup, Sweden's 33-year-old captain Andreas Granqvist stepped up confidently to sweep the ball low and left of the otherwise impressively in-form goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo.
"The VAR took a while but we are very pleased they had it ... I was pretty sure," Granqvist said of the wait.
The result brought wild celebrations from the hordes of yellow-clad Swedish fans, fearful their team would draw another blank after failing to score in their last three games.
Sweden had not won an opening World Cup game since 1958, when they were the hosts and eventual runners-up.
The Asian side actually began the game brighter, pressing forward and harrying for the first 15 minutes against an initially sluggish-looking Sweden.
Sweden and South Korea draw blank in scrappy first half Source: Reuters
But the Scandinavians quickly found their poise, coping comfortably with Korea's attacks despite the absence of defender Victor Lindelof through illness.
Sweden coach Janne Andersson said the penalty was "crystal-clear", adding: "We played the match way we had intended, but I'm a little unhappy with the chances we didn't put away."
What to expect on day six
Day six of the tournament will see three matches back-to-back on SBS including Colombia taking on Japan, Poland playing Senegal, and hosts Russia playing Egypt.
Japan has not had the best of preparations for the World Cup in Russia, and news of an earthquake back home added to their worries on Monday, while a false hotel alarm a day before their opener against Colombia did little to help settle the team.
The four-time Asian champions, who also face Senegal and Poland, have undergone a turbulent 10 months since qualifying, culminating in the firing of Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, the former Algeria coach, in April after a string of poor results.
Former technical director Akira Nishino, who played as a midfielder for the national side, was named to lead the Samurai Blue in Russia, and has been in charge for just three games in the leadup to the tournament.
Senegal will draw on the spirit of the late Bruno Metsu, the maverick French coach who led them to the 2002 quarter-finals, when they face Poland in their first World Cup match in 16 years.
Aliou Cisse, who captained the side which Metsu famously fired up to stun defending champions France 1-0 in Seoul in their opening game, said he was thinking of his mentor.
Senegal's players warm up during a training session, on June 18, 2018 in Moscow Source: Getty
Yet as the only African coach in this year's competition, he is determined to stamp his own generation's mark on world football.
Asked if he had taken up Metsu's style of team talk, when he worked on their anger at being dismissed as outsiders in their first finals, Cisse told reporters: "No. Bruno's talk was Bruno. I'm the coach now, I have my own way of managing my team.
"But today on the eve of this match against Poland my thoughts are with Bruno. I know that from where he is today he is watching us and his energy will lift us."
Metsu, whose side lost to a Turkish golden goal in the 2002 quarter-finals, died five years ago of cancer, aged 59.
