Why were England so flat against Ghana?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic FC.
Hello and welcome to The Athletic FC podcast with me, Emma Payton. After cruising past Croatia, England stalled against Ghana, while Cristiano Ronaldo claims he's back. And later, Scotland take on Brazil. Well, here with me in the studio, we have The Athletic's Liam Toomey and Karl Anka. Good morning, guys. How are we doing?
Good morning. I think I'm probably one of the very few people that was happy with that 0-0 draw.
I was going to say. Honours even for you last night.
Why did England struggle to score and end up 0-0 with Ghana?
A draw for all British Guineans everywhere. Stormzy predicted a 1-1 draw before kick-off because he said that'd be happy for everyone. You were channeling that? Yeah, it's me, Stormzy, Mainu, Afua Hirsch, a couple others.
I saw a few more on X. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Grand.
Grand. What were your sort of immediate thoughts?
I actually thought this was what I expected more of the England games to be like. So I was pleasantly surprised by how open the Croatia one was. And this is often what World Cup group stage football is. You know, it's high possession versus low block. You're playing against a team that really knows they only need a point against you and has a plan to get there. And I thought Ghana executed it really well. They still could have lost. England still created enough chances to maybe win the game Chiefly through Kane, who I'm sure we'll talk about, but it's not a disaster for England.
Not a disaster. Okay. Well, Jack Pitbrook was there for the Athletic. Here's what he made of it.
I'm outside the Boston Stadium where England just played out their 0-0 draw with Ghana, which was a really familiar game to I think anyone who's watched England over the years. It's the last three tournaments in a row where England had drawn their second game after winning their first game. They tried to change that story tonight, but I'm afraid that didn't happen. Ghana were very well organised at the back. They defended deep and narrow. There weren't a lot of chances. Harry Kane missed England's best one at the end. I think what this means though is that England are going to have to beat Panama in New Jersey in their third and final game. And they may have to score a lot of goals if Ghana beat Croatia.
And so I don't think we'll see the same number of rotations from Thomas Tuchel in that third and final game. Maybe that will be good for England's rhythm, because it will mean continuing to play the main players, but it won't be a much changed team, I don't think, going into that third game. So I think all the discussion really the next few days will be who plays. Does he bring in Bukayo Saka for his first start, who I thought made a bit of a difference when he came on? Does he bring back Marcus Rashford? Anthony Gordon's been taken off in the last two games, didn't think Gordon made a big difference here. Does he stick with Jed Spence at left-back? I think that having Spence always cutting in meant that England had less width down that left-hand side over the course of this game.
Do we maybe see Morgan Rodgers from the start for the first time? He hasn't got a start so far, but he's been a lively substitute twice. Those are the big discussions I think we'll mainly be having between now and England's third group game against Panama.
We'll get into the changes that Thomas Tuchel might make for that Panama game and some of what Jack said there. But some of the stats that really stood out from last night, I mean, England had 78.8% possession against Ghana, the highest ever figure overall. in a World Cup match on record, that's since 1966. England's 19 shots, their most without scoring in a World Cup game since their final group stage game against Nigeria over 20 years ago. I mean, Carl, what went wrong for you? Because they had chances.
I think England underestimated, one, the historical context of playing against Ghana. So Ghana, a nation that was formerly colonized by English, used to be known as the Gold Coast, the very first game between these two countries. Ghana wasn't actually a country, it was a colony.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:35
2
Why did England struggle to score and end up 0-0 with Ghana?
0:35–7:14
3
How did Jack Pitt‑Brooke analyse Ghana’s defensive plan at Boston Stadium?
7:14–14:10
4
What stats show England dominated possession but failed to convert?
14:10–29:20
5
Did tactical choices (Spence, wide rotations, substitutions) cost England chances?
29:20–39:45
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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