World Cup
FIFA World
Cup 2026
Advertisement
live
Updated
England were frustrated by Ghana in a surprise goalless draw at the World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel’s side created little of note in the face of Ghana’s determined low block — although England thought they had won the match late on when Nico O'Reilly headed against the post and Harry Kane smashed the rebound over.
Tempers threatened to boil over on more than one occasion during the draw, although the point all but guarantees both of these nations safe passage to the knockout stages.
Two Group L matches, two to good for England and Ghana.
Both are being played at the same time on Saturday afternoon, 5pm ET to be precise.
Croatia face Ghana while England face Panama, a team they beat 6-1 at the 2018 World Cup.
Asked about another drab major-tournament draw for England in a post-match interview with BBC, Declan Rice didn't sound too worried.
💬 “Loads of top nations drew their first game, you know, there's no need to be negative or downbeat. We need to stay positive, keep going, recover before the next match, and that's what we'll do.”
England have been involved in 13 goalless draws at the World Cup — more than any other side:
The hero of the night for Ghana is their goalkeeper, Benjamin Asare.
He led the team in prayer after the game, an image that is already doing the rounds on social media. The Accra Hearts of Oak No. 1, who plays in the Ghana Premier League, has spent his entire club career in his country.
Today, he delivered a huge performance, keeping a clean sheet against England, a real achievement considering he was facing a side packed with players competing at the highest level of European football.
The Ghanaian full backs did so well today. Given how much influence England’s wide forwards had against Croatia, it's striking how quiet they were in Boston.
Well done Gideon Mensah and Marvin Senaya (who both play for Auxerre) for that, but also the centre-backs inside them and the midfielders playing ahead of them. Rarely were they exposed one-on-one; there was always someone there to provide support. Geat performances, but great coaching too. Top work.
The third game of the day — and the third played in Group L — is about to start in Toronto.
It is a match between two teams who started this World Cup with defeats as Croatia face Panama.
You can follow our live coverage of it by clicking here.
England move on to four points after two matches. Qualification is not be mathematically secured yet, but their position in Group L remains favourable, and it could open the door to a possible meeting with Mexico.
Ghana already faced Mexico in preparation for this World Cup, losing 2-0 in that friendly. With everything still to be decided, could we be looking at a potential England vs Mexico showdown?
This wasn't the result England were hoping for, but they did extend one notable streak of theirs at the World Cup.
England have never lost against an African team at the World Cup, now with five wins and four draws across nine matches, including seven clean sheets.
Harry Kane should have won the game for England at the end, but the captain blazed his late volley over the bar — here is what he said to BBC after the match.
💬 “It was one of those games. Difficult team to break down, we had loads of possession of the ball. Probably the last 15 minutes of both halves we were at our best. They started to tire towards the end. We had some chances, they had a big chance there. We hit the bar with Nico as well, so we could have won.
“In the end, we didn't concede too many chances. A couple of counter-attacks in the whole game, but they've got some dangerous players and overall we controlled that pretty well. We wanted to win, but we take the point and we're still in a great position in the group.”
In summary: unimpressed. Readers are sharing their views on our discussion page, and their assessments of England's performance range from poor to very poor.
Join the conversation here.
England have made a habit of turning in a flat second game at major tournaments. This was an outstanding performance by Ghana and a tremendously coached mid and low block by Carlos Quieroz – back-to-back clean sheets for them to go with four points and likely a place in the knockouts.
Ultimately I think Tuchel left that too late with his subs. Introducing O’Reilly to attack crosses was the obvious choice, even if it meant giving up Spence’s recovery speed to defend counter-attacks.
Saka and Rashford both brought energy, and the ball did drop to Kane for the chance for the winner. He only had 19 touches tonight (35 vs Croatia) and the way he fluffed his shot looked like he'd hardly been in the game.
Thomas Tuchel has just had his say on Harry Kane’s late missed chance on British broadcaster BBC Sport.
💬 “It’s normally a clear goal for us. It’s a big chance and then another chance. It would have been deserved.
“We knew it would be difficult. They went even more defensive than in the first match; they defended in a 4-5-1. We found our intensity the longer the half went on but we could not get the reward.
“We were very good at defending the counter-attacks for most of the match. We have to pay a huge amount of attention to that.”
All banter aside, that was a really strikingly poor England performance. Moved the ball slowly, predictable, didn't really create anything until the end.
There's no point blaming Kane for skying that late volley when they did so little all game.
They were playing Bryan Adams' Summer of '69 at Gillette Stadium. That was the summer … England drew 0-0 with Mexico at the Azteca.
Eyebrows were raised in some quarters when Noni Madueke was picked as part of England’s squad for this World Cup and yet he has started both matches.
There were times tonight when he seemed to be dribbling aimlessly into the box in the hope of being fouled as England quickly ran out of ideas.
The Arsenal man was far from the only player who failed to impress in an England shirt, but one has to wonder whether Tuchel will persist with the winger throughout the tournament.
The match dashboard largely tells the story of the game from Gillette Stadium, though it doesn't spell out England being fortunate with a couple of refereeing decisions.
If you're going to have one of these performances, then make sure you have them in the group stage, which England have done. The next challenge is to avoid having another of these performances.
The numbers tell the story: 19 shots for England, just 2 for Ghana. But in the end, neither side found the breakthrough. No goals to celebrate in Foxboro. England kept pushing until the final whistle, especially in the closing stages, when they created their best opportunities looking for that one moment to finally unlock the game.
The frustration was clear on the faces of Tuchel’s players, who spent more than 90 minutes searching for an opening or the quality needed to beat Ghana’s defence.
But their opponents stood firm. Queiroz’s side leave with a valuable 0-0 draw after a physical battle where their organisation and discipline made the difference.
Now England turn their attention to Panama. On paper, it should be a more manageable test for Tuchel’s team, but this World Cup has already shown that nothing can be taken for granted.
Our match rating: 6/10. As goalless draws go, this was a pretty compelling one. The second half was undoubtedly better than the first, with Ghana ever so slightly more expansive in their approach.
O'Reilly hit the bar late on and it seemed for all the world as though Kane would bury the rebound, but his shot flew into the stands.
Ghana’s physical approach ensured this felt more like a knockout match than a group-stage game and that can be no bad thing. Ghana defended well and England were far from their best, but this was not a snoozefest by any means.
It's hard to imagine a more contrasting England performance to the one they gave against Croatia. File that away with the goalless draw against Algeria in 2010.
Team Stats
ENG
GHA
Game Details
England frustrated by Ghana in surprise goalless draw: Live updates and reaction – The New York Times
Leave a Comment
