England 0-0 Ghana: Thomas Tuchel’s side struggled to overcome a determined Ghanaian team in Boston and were unable to repeat their performance against Croatia.
Harry Kane’s reaction after missing a late chance (Image: Getty Images)
The feel-good factor turned into frustration over the course of six days.
Manager Thomas Tuchel watched from the bench as England seized a golden opportunity to cement their place in the World Cup and begin planning for the knockout stages.
Instead, England were sloppy, wasteful and frustrating as Ghana thwarted Tuchel’s side with a boring and numbingly painful performance at the Gillette Stadium.
England have suffered from second-game syndrome in their last three major competitions and were desperate to avoid falling into bad habits after the elation of their first win over Croatia.
At the last World Cup, England beat Iran 6-2 in Qatar, but the United States pulled away in the next tournament.
At Euro 2021 they beat Croatia but were drawn by Scotland, while at Euro 2024 they beat Serbia but drew with Denmark in the second leg.
They have not won their opening two games since the 2018 World Cup, when they defeated Tunisia and Panama. You have to go back to 2006 for the last time.
Harry Kane reminded his players of the importance of maintaining standards and momentum at this week’s team meeting.
Tuchel likes to keep everyone guessing about his starting XI and surprised him by introducing Marc Guehi and Jed Spence in place of John Stones and Nico O’Reilly respectively.
Spence quickly attracted attention after appearing to ignore the handshake of former Ghanaian Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey. That’s because he is scheduled to go on trial next year after pleading not guilty to seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault between 2020 and 2022.
England looked sluggish from the start. The second half against Croatia was very dynamic and exciting, but the first half against Ghana was underwhelming and lacking in ideas.
Declan Rice tried to break through. Harry Kane barely took a kick. Anthony Gordon ran down a dead end. Jude Bellingham had a full house. England lacked the speed of the ball.
By half-time, armchair viewers were waiting for England assistant coach Anthony Barry to deliver his cruel verdict in a half-time television interview. Sadly, it was still underwhelming. He just begged for patience and claimed that “half of it was okay.” Not likely.
Declan Rice reacts to the draw between England and Ghana (Image: Getty Images)
Ghana could do little but Gordon lost track of Ghana’s Marvin Senaya and Jed Spence showed great awareness of danger.
England did not have a shot on target until the 57th minute. First Maduke had a shot blocked, and then Gordon’s shot from the rebound was easily saved by Ghanaian keeper Benjamin Asare.
In the end, Tuchel rolled the dice and brought on Bukayo Saka, and England looked to the bench for much-needed inspiration, but they still got little.
A truly emotional moment ensued as they forced Ghana into space, which allowed substitute Prince Adu to break through.
Jordan Pickford ran off his line and at first glance it looked like the England keeper had kicked Adu on the edge of the box, but video replays actually showed the foul was the other way around.
The England fans at Gillette Stadium must have hoped that would be the wake-up call they needed, but it still didn’t arrive.
Eberechi Eze and Morgan Rodgers came on as England looked to spice things up in the closing stages.
England were really lucky in the closing stages that Adu slipped through again and Ezri Konsa threw himself into a tackle, but he couldn’t get close to the ball.
Saka came close to scoring with a late shot, but Kane was forced to make a fine save as Nico O’Reilly’s header sliced away before it hit the crossbar. That pretty much sums it all up.
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