England’s scoreless draw to Ghana exposes World Cup run worries

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — England were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Ghana on Tuesday in their second match of the group stage at the World Cup.

The Three Lions dominated possession but struggled to create clear-cut chances against opponents who defended doggedly throughout, forced to wait until the 57th-minute to register a shot on target.

After making two changes to the team that beat Croatia 4-2 in Dallas — Marc Guéhi and Djed Spence replacing John Stones and Nico O’Reilly — England manager Thomas Tuchel made wholesale changes, bringing on O’Reilly, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford in search of a winner.

O’Reilly hit the crossbar before Harry Kane thrashed the follow-up over in a late flurry, but England were left frustrated, despite sitting top of the group on four points separated by Ghana on goal difference.

Ghana for their part showed little ambition with only two shots across the 90 minutes, mostly notably calling for Jordan Pickford to be dismissed after clashing with Prince Adu, or looking for a penalty after Ezri Konsa tackled Adu in the box, but England avoid censure both times.

Still, Ghana’s point earned might be important as a difficult final match against Croatia awaits in the Black Stars’ to finish Group L on Saturday. — James Olley

Kane: Lonely and without the ball

By 35 minutes in, only two players had fewer touches of the ball than Kane. One of them was the Ghana goalkeeper Benjamin Asare, the other was Antoine Semenyo.

The latter soon came to life to cause England a little more strife. But for so much of the match — Kane was left adrift. He was starved of service to feet, and wasn’t given the same space and opportunity to drop deep to help inject momentum into England’s attack the way we saw in their 4-2 win over Croatia to open the World Cup.

We had to wait until the 85th minute to see Kane’s first real shot in anger. O’Reilly’s header hit the bar, and Kane ballooned the subsequent opportunity over it.

It showed how much England lacked that little bit of magic in the middle of the pitch to open things up, or someone to support Kane up front to allow him a touch more space. — Tom Hamilton

England can’t find second-half bounce again

Much was made of Tuchel’s halftime team talk against Croatia. As England went into the break, the game was locked at 2-2. England looked disorganized on defense, and also lacked some tooth in attack.

The halftime switch, and talk, saw England play far more aggressively, shifting their defensive line far higher, and playing at a higher tempo. From there, they scored two goals, closed out the match, and set the standard for the rest of the competition.

Only it didn’t carry through to their second game — far from it — and we didn’t see the same bounce after the break. There was no second-half injection of urgency and attacking freedom.

This will leave Tuchel with plenty of food for thought. He said Monday that part of the battle as a coach is to decide when to intervene, and when to let the player’s continue to find their way. Either way, whatever approach he took, it didn’t have the required impact. England were frustrated and just couldn’t find the keys to unlock Ghana’s organized defense. — Hamilton

Tuchel’s subs don’t make the impact England needed

He can’t do it every time — nor should anyone expect that. But Tuchel is viewed as an upgrade on former manager Gareth Southgate in no small part down to his bravery from the bench, an “intuition” he described beforehand, which has served him so well and elevated him to elite-manager status.

But he couldn’t trigger a breakthrough from the sidelines this time, waiting until the 66th-minute before introducing O’Reilly and Saka. The changes from the outset — Guehi and Spence for Stones and O’Reilly — made sense after England’s shaky defensive showing against Croatia. But perhaps sacrificed some fluidity in possession.

Saka forced a good save from Asare, and O’Reilly hit the crossbar. Eze and Rogers were introduced after the second hydration break, and Rashford got only seven minutes from the bench despite an impressive goal-scoring cameo against Croatia. But if Tuchel’s impact was rightly lauded in the first game, here there were more questions, not least whether Anthony Gordon is doing enough to hold down a place. — Olley

Ghana stays consistent: No shots? No problem!

Ghana did it again. Forty-five minutes (plus added time) of first-half football and not a single shot of any kind.

Ghana’s formation was different (as you’d expect) against England, relative to their 1-0 win against Panama to open the World Cup — but the attacking output was the same: close to nothing. And there wasn’t much possession either: it was 36% against Panama, and 22% against England.

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Bellingham: England’s draw with Ghana ‘not the end of the world’

The logic is fairly evident. This is not a great Ghana generation even with the addition of Semenyo. And coach Carlos Queiroz has been in charge for all of 71 days: no time to work or instill anything but the most basic concepts.

But the basics work. Sit tight, congest the middle of the pitch, and hope to grab something on the break or maybe a set piece. You don’t need to out-football your opposition (and certainly not England). You just need to play the percentages.

Against Panama, they got the improbable three points via a late, late goal from Caleb Yirenkyi. Against England, they endured a siege of their goal, but really only gave up a handful of legitimate chances, while coming close on the break themselves. It’s basic, it’s blue-collar. But it’s working. Again. — Gabriele Marcotti

England’s ‘second-game syndrome’ strikes again

England improved their dismal record in opening tournament matches to win all four under Southgate and extended that with Tuchel by beating Croatia in Arlington, Texas, last week. But there is something of a “second-game syndrome” with England, having drawn their last three middle group-stage games.

Make that four. Declan Rice revealed on the eve of this game that Kane had addressed the squad about this specific issue, warning against standards slipping but whether this was physical, tactical or psychological, there was a clear drop in performance in Foxborough.

The good news is it hasn’t stopped England in the past. They went on to win the group in each of their previous three tournaments and face Panama next, when they will be overwhelming favorites to secure a win that seals the top spot. But a disappointing trend continues. — Olley

When your fans celebrate a draw like a win with some Jersey rock

Fifteen minutes after the teams had left the pitch, the England fans were mostly gone. The Ghana supporters, however, looked like folks at closing time who did not want to leave the club and were begging the deejay for one more song.

You can understand it. The draw with England puts them on four points and, though Croatia in their final game will be a tough nut to crack, four points usually is more than enough to advance to the knockouts. For a team that’s ranked 73rd in the world and fired its coach in April (Queiroz has been in charge less than 2½ months), getting out of the group stage, maybe even with a second-place finish (if they draw with Croatia) is already an achievement.

Hence, the party. Which the stadium deejay in Foxborough indulged with some Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi (guess when it comes to rock anthem, New Jersey destroys Boston — Dropkick Murphys excepted). The cheering and dancing went on even when he tried to tone it down with some John Denver.

And it continued even when the music stopped and the big screens started playing commercials for World Cup sponsors. But, of course, the music hadn’t stopped. It kept playing in the heads of Black Stars fans. And rightly so. — Marcotti