Harry Kane spoke to England’s squad about avoiding past failings. This is why they repeated them – The Athletic
Before England flew from Kansas City up to Boston on Monday, Harry Kane had a clear message in a meeting with the rest of the squad.
In England’s past three tournament campaigns, they had followed a win in their opening fixture with a dispiriting draw. The game against Ghana was a chance to change that history. With Kane’s words firmly imprinted upon them, the England team boarded the flight with renewed purpose. There was to be no letting up at Gillette Stadium.
Well, sometimes even those who can remember the past are still doomed to repeat it.
The most striking thing about this drab England draw with Ghana in the rain was just how overwhelmingly familiar it was. Like going back to a film you know word for word, or returning to the house you grew up in. You do not need to open the door; you already know exactly what you will find behind it.
This could easily have been the 1-1 draw with Denmark in Frankfurt at Euro 2024. Or the 0-0 draw with the USA in Qatar in 2022. Or even the 0-0 draw with Scotland at Wembley in Euro 2020. Those were the three games that Kane was referring to, from their past three tournaments under Gareth Southgate. But playing like this in the second game of a tournament is no crisis. It is, in fact, a time-honoured tradition of English football. No one who witnessed the football wasteland of England 0-0 Algeria in Cape Town in 2010 will ever forget it.
What makes this frustrating is that anyone who watched England demolish Croatia in Dallas last week came away with a sense that maybe this tournament would be different. That the intensity and dominance England played with, the barrage of chances they created, and the Premier League speed and rhythm they showed were all clear signs that Thomas Tuchel had cracked tournament football at the first attempt. Maybe they did not need to produce Deschamps-ball with English characteristics. Maybe Gazball was the right idea for a while, but it was holding England back. And Tuchel had proven its redundancy at the first attempt.
England are no strangers to an awful tournament draw (Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images)
Maybe some of that is a stretch, but it was hard not to get swept away in that second half against Croatia. Everybody wants to see something that has never happened before. Something was thrilling about that sense of novelty we all left Dallas with.
Which is why this game against Ghana was so bracing. This was the opposite of novelty. These are the most charted waters in English football history. Almost every England tournament campaign — and certainly the last three — have gone through exactly this. Tuchel had to deny afterwards that this was a “reality check”, insisting that on that basis, “everything is a reality check”, which is probably correct, but not how people felt.
The simple story of this game is that England came up against some firm physical realities. The first is that if you play against a Carlos Queiroz-coached side, who are happy to defend narrow and deep in a 4-5-1, happy to dig in, counter-attack, and frustrate you, then it is going to take something special or unusual to get through or around.
This was a far more physically draining experience than the Croatia game, against an impressively athletic team. And the lesson of tournament football is that when teams get this defensive game plan right, it takes an awful lot to break them down. This England team are not the first to stumble in a game like this, and they will not be the last. No one will want to play Ghana in the last 32.
The second story of this game is that England were unable to play with the natural width required to get down the sides of Ghana’s narrow block. With Djed Spence and Anthony Gordon on the left, they never had true width down that flank. Reece James and Noni Madueke combined a few times in the first half down the right but never to much effect. It was only when Madueke switched to his natural side and immediately put in a good cross that England had anything down that side.
That feeling of familiarity, that this was a replay from the vault, was only exacerbated by Spence’s role on the left. That is where Spence has played all season for Tottenham Hotspur, and he brings a lot in terms of speed and defensive solidity. But he does not offer natural attacking width. To anyone who remembers Southgate’s use of Kieran Trippier in that position over the years, it was all very familiar. And it did make you wonder again why Tuchel did not bring another specialist left-back in his squad.
Tuchel tried to put a brave face on it, repeatedly saying that Group L is the hardest in the World Cup (which it could well be) and that “not one of us thought this was an easy match”. He said that with a bit more luck, the story would be entirely different, which, of course, is true.
If Kane had buried that late volley with his left foot, we would all be talking about a clinical performance against a difficult opponent. If England had bundled in from one of Declan Rice’s many corners before then, it might be viewed even more positively. Every game at this level, ultimately, hinges on a small number of contingent details bouncing your way.
Drawing 0-0 with Ghana is not a crisis, and if England beat Panama in New Jersey, it will all be forgotten. Spain drew 0-0 against Cape Verde in their first game, and it will not do them any harm in the end. England are in a good position with their easiest game to play. Topping the group is still in their hands. England did not lose this game, which went in line with recent history. Maybe they just lost a sense that this campaign would be very different.
