England star Jordan Henderson is still hurting from Euro 2016 (Image: GETTY)
Harry Kane’s winner on Monday came in the first minute of added time to give the Three Lions the best possible start to their World Cup campaign.
However, Henderson recalls only too well a similar euphoria when Daniel Sturridge struck – also in injury time – to grab a last-gasp win against rivals Wales in the second game of their European Championships just two years ago.
“I remember at the Euros, we scored a last-minute winner against Wales and everyone was positive and it’s a great feeling,” Henderson said.
“Two games later we were out and people were saying we were the worst team in the tournament.”
Henderson, who was on the bench for both those games in 2016, was one of England’s best performers on Monday having seen off the challenge of Eric Dier for the single pivot midfield role Southgate likes to use.
Two games later we were out and people were saying we were the worst team in the tournament
Jordan Henderson
Holding that shape against a robust Panama side is going to be important on Sunday, with Belgium needing to wait until the second half to break their resolve in the opening game of Group G.
But Henderson feels England have the characteristics to stand up to Panama’s tactics and is already metaphorically rolling up his sleeves ahead of the battle.
“The lads will be used to the physical side of things from playing in the Premier League,” Henderson said. “The games we play each week are usually physical and that is something the lads enjoy.
“Tunisia were quite like that as well. There were quite a lot of fouls in the middle area of the pitch. I am sure Panama will be similar and they will try and make it difficult for us.
England vs Panama: Jordan Henderson insists Gareth Southgate's men can handle the physical side (Image: GETTY)
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“But we have a lot of big lads in the team who will look forward to the physical side of things. We will match them physically. That is what is good about this team.
“We have that side to us and we also have the creative side that you saw the other night.”
The plan is for that to happen in front of Henderson, but with Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard all misfiring against Tunisia, in the end it was up to Kane once more to provide the goals.
“In the first half especially the amount of chances we created was very good,” Henderson said. “It is something that we have been working on, something Gareth has been pushing us to do.
“The lads up front were brilliant in their movement, in their one-twos, and we just have to be a bit more ruthless.
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“At least creating chances like we were gave us the confidence to keep going, to keep going, and concentrating on the next moment. We won, it was a big win, there are some things to improve on. We know that.”
Sterling, nevertheless, appears to be a casualty despite Henderson’s plea before training yesterday that his former Liverpool team-mate should not be the one put in the spotlight for the comparatively poor second-half display.
When Sterling was cast as an understudy to Ruben Loftus-Cheek on Steve Holland’s notebook in training yesterday, Henderson’s hopes appeared to be dashed.
“I don’t think there should be any ‘noise’ around Raheem’s performance. I would be surprised if that is the case, but it won’t bother him.
“I looked at what he did for the team and what he brings to England with his pace to run in behind and dropping in and linking the play. He is used to the scrutiny now and he handles it all very well.”