England's hunt for attacking spark fruitless, as 'positivity' takes over

1 1 4 →2 1 →0 1 →3 1 →1 4 →1 6 →0 1 →0 2 →0 0 →1 3 →0 0 →1 5 →1 2 →1 0 →0 0 →4 4 →0 0 →0 2 →2 1 →3 2 →0 3 →0 3 →2 1 →2 5 →0 0 →0 Live 0 →1 - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- - →- analysis World Cup: England's hunt for positivity more fruitful than an attacking spark against resolute Ghana defence Wed 24 Jun 2026 at 10:14am Declan Rice preached positivity. Alan Shearer called it a "reality check". Micah Richards said England simply "weren't brave enough" in a laboured 0-0 draw against a defensively minded Ghana in Boston. The truth is that England failed to break down a stubborn Black Stars side that, despite displaying a disappointing lack of ambition, were absolutely thrilled with a draw against one of the competition favourites. - Live updates: Check out all the action as it happens in our live blog - Check out the full World Cup schedule here in Australian times - ABC Sport podcast: Check out the latest episode here It is a draw that will almost certainly see both teams progress to the knockout rounds, with both teams sitting on 4 points each after opening round wins. England dominated possession, their 78.8 per cent the most by any team that has failed to score a goal since records were first taken in 1966. But despite having 19 shots across the game, only three of them were on target and the first of those didn't come until almost the hour mark. Credit must go to Ghana. Their defensive structure was nigh-on impregnable, packing a multitude of players into the penalty area to stifle an England team that may have expected to have too much quality to be bogged down by such negative tactics. Carlos Queiroz said in the lead-up to the game that although England were the Three Lions, Ghana "have 33 million lions". At times, it looked like all of them were standing in the penalty area, blocking England's relentless forays forward. "It's a game we could've walked away 1-0, 2-0 and moved on," Harry Kane told the BBC after the game. "It was never going to be the prettiest game because of the way they played. Credit to them, they defended well, dangerous on the counter-attack. "We take the point and move on." Such are the highs and lows of England. Every win — the admittedly impressive 4-2 victory against an aging Croatia team a perfect example — is met with crowing comments about how the team has finally got things right at a major tournament. Every setback is similarly treated as a calamity of epic proportions. "Second game fever isn't it with England, isn't it?" Jude Bellingham said after he was awarded the man of the match award in as blatant example of the cult of celebrity overruling what most people would have seen on the pitch as we'll see in the entire tournament — even he admitted that he didn't deserve it. "It's OK," he added. "I think they played for a draw, which would have seen them go through. Fair play to them. They did a great job." It is the curse of England that leads to such comments, though, something Joe Hart noted post-match on the BBC. "The key is we don't get too high and we don't get too low," the former England keeper said. "It could have been worse tonight. They could have nicked it. "Just a difficult night, but I expect them to go on and perform on Saturday night." England's attack badly misfired on a drizzly afternoon in Boston, America's New England, displaying all the meteorological qualities of old Blighty. The quality in the final third was sorely lacking. But even when England did break free from the shackles imposed upon them by the brave Ghanaian block, the finishing left a lot to be desired. Kane missed a glaring chance to win the game late on, a chance that his coach Thomas Tuchel described as being "normally a clear goal for us". That was at the end of the game when England was essentially lining up with four strikers, finally showing the intensity that enlivened a nervous clash against Croatia and resulted in the go-ahead goal early in the second half. Kane admitted that England lacked "maybe just a little bit of quality". "But these games are tough," he said. "I've played in these types of games, a lot of us have played in these types of games. Sometimes you need an early goal to open up the match, for them to come out, but as the game goes longer at 0-0, they believe more and defend more with their heart. "We still had chances towards the end there. I'm backing myself to score more often than not … but I've lived the striker life long enough to know they're not always going to go in. "I back myself nine times out of 10, but it just didn't fall my way today." Ghana are not the only team who will play so deep against England. That is something England needs to accept. Just as Iran did against Belgium, Cabo Verde did against Spain and, yes, the Socceroos did against Türkiye, the low block is a valuable tool to negate a team that, on paper, has greater attacking threats. But Ghana may come away wishing they had showed a bit more ambition from the off, because when they did hit England on the counter attack it came desperately close to paying off. Ezri Konsa was desperately lucky not to be penalised and give away a penalty when he leaped into a challenge with Prince Kwabena Adu late in the second half. A few moments earlier, Jordan Pickford came charging out of his area and clattered into the same player and was inexplicably awarded a free kick for his troubles. On another day, both of those decisions would have gone against England and, perhaps, given those moments, Ghana fans may wonder what might have been had they tested a defence that is clearly vulnerable. They didn't though. As Hart said "it could have been worse". As it happens, topping the group is still in England's hands. Positivity, which Rice said in one form or another three times in his brief post-match interview, should be maintained. "We wanted that second win today but it weren't to be," Kane said. "But overall we're in a good position and we look forward to the next one."