England’s goalless draw with Ghana may not have dented their position at the top of Group L, but it has served as a reminder that World Cup campaigns are rarely straightforward. Four days after brushing aside Croatia with pace and fluency, Thomas Tuchel’s side ran into a completely different challenge and had no answer. Ghana came in with a plan and executed it superbly on Tuesday night. Compact, disciplined and physically imposing, they sat deep, blocked the central channels and forced England into areas where they looked short of ideas. Despite enjoying 78.2% possession and winning a string of corners, the Three Lions could not find a breakthrough.
England Forward Jude Bellingham was quick to credit Ghana for their organisation.
“Different opponent, mate. We played Croatia in the first game, Ghana in the second. I think Ghana knew what they had to do to get out of the group. I think they’ve done it exceptionally well. Their defensive shape, especially the way they blocked through the middle and tried to get us to play and funnel us to the wide areas.”
The contrast with the opening win over Croatia was stark. England had space to attack and runners breaking beyond the defence in that game. Against Ghana, there was little room to operate. Harry Kane managed only two touches inside the penalty area before blazing a late opportunity over the bar.
Bellingham admitted England were below their best but insisted the outside reaction was to be expected.
“Yeah, I think you’ve got to roll with it. I think when we play well, like the other day, we got the credit we deserved, and we weren’t at our best again today. It’s normal that there’s going to be a little bit of noise and that’s completely fair and completely normal for us. It is just about cracking on, getting back to Kansas, recovering well, analysing what we did and keep going the same way that we were going before with the same mentality, with the same attitude and we’ll be fine.”
For Bellingham, there was also a sense of familiarity. England have often stumbled in the second group game of major tournaments, and he acknowledged the pattern.
“Yeah, very frustrating. Second-game fever, you know, the same as always with us. It feels like in all the tournaments I’ve been to, it’s been the same. A decent performance to start and a good win, but the second one frustrates one a bit because of how they defended and how they set up. Credit to them. They got exactly out of the game what they played for.”
” We couldn’t quite break them down. Even with all the corners, all the possession and the shots from distance, it’s one of those things that happens. It’s important for us and for you guys as well, not to get too negative or heat up on it. We’ll prepare, we’ll watch the footage, see where we could have been better and prepare for Panama.”
Bukayo Saka‘s introduction provided some urgency after Anthony Gordon struggled to influence the contest. The Arsenal winger, still managing an Achilles issue, forced Ghana goalkeeper Benjamin Asare into a fine late save and strengthened the case for a starting role. Marcus Rashford could also come into contention as Tuchel searches for more penetration from wide areas.
Bellingham felt England could have shown greater ambition late on, but refused to view the draw as a setback.
“Fair play to them, credit to them. They were excellent. We probably could have done a little bit more to open them up. Towards the end of the game, I think it’s just about committing bodies and trying to take risks. But, like I said, not the end of the world.”
Former England captain Wayne Rooney expects changes against Panama.
“I now expect changes on Saturday night against Panama,” Rooney told BBC Sport. “England probed, but there are little details throughout that game that Tuchel will look at with the team and try to improve on.”
“When a team is sitting in a low block, you have to cross the ball. It is very difficult to defend against. I don’t think we crossed the ball enough in 90 minutes.”
England remains well placed to reach the last 32. But after the excitement generated by the win over Croatia, Ghana provided a timely reality check. The challenge for Tuchel now is finding solutions before Panama pose another question.
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