Key events
47 min “England,” begins Brendan Murphy, “will never win a major trophy with Southgate as manager.”
46 min Ghana begin the second half. Apparently Ollie Watkins was warming up with intent at half-time.
Nick Ames
Guess who’s back, back again
Ewan Murray
Half-time reading
Steve Clarke believes Scotland must be prepared for the threat provided by the “icon” Neymar in Miami on Wednesday. Neymar is expected to make his bow for Brazil in this World Cup after returning from injury as Group C reaches its climax.
“His qualities are without question,” Scotland’s manager said. “He’s one of the superstars of the modern era. We can expect a very dangerous opponent but I could go on about Brazil and so many dangerous opponents. Neymar is just one of them; even coming from the bench he would give them a lift because he is such an icon.
“Brazil have shown in the matches so far in this tournament that they are a big threat. I am sure they expect to be, as a minimum, last four of the competition.”
Half-time looking
Anthony Barry’s half-time verdict
Overall it’s been an absolutely okay half from our point of view. A game we probably expeected – a physical challenge against a difficult opponent.
They defend deep, deep, deep
so rest upon my chest– probably even deeper than we expected, 10-12 metres deeper than in their last two games. The spaces are really condensed, and then they have this incredible speed to close down any spaces that do appear.The headline for us is probably: patience in the game, continue to attack with a stable base because they have exceptional counter-attack options and we’ve negated that so far.
Spence appears to refuse Partey handshake before game
Ed Aarons
Djed Spence appeared to be the only England player not to shake Thomas Partey’s hand before the game against Ghana. There had been doubts over whether Thomas Tuchel’s squad would snub the former Arsenal midfielder.
Partey is scheduled to go on trial next year at Southwark crown court after he was charged with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault last year. He was later charged with two further counts of rape. Partey has denied all the charges, with his lawyer insisting that he welcomes the chance to clear his name.
Television coverage cut away at the crucial moment but footage appeared to show Spence kept his hand in the right pocket of his tracksuit top when Partey, whose contract at Villarreal expires next week, walked past. That seemed to surprise Partey, who briefly glanced back towards the Tottenham player before carrying on.
Half time: England 0-0 Ghana
No goals and no shots on target at either end. England have been frustrated by a superbly organised Ghana, whose coach Carlos Queiroz has clearly still got it. Noni Madueke was the pick of the England attackers, allbeit in the face of flaccid competition.
As I type, Jude Bellingham is having words with somebody on the way off. Not sure what happened, and Bellingham’s facial expression is that of a man who has just been started on for no good reason. Who knows.
45+4 min Rice plays a quick short pass into Kane on the edge of the area. He dummies a couple of defenders nearly before hitting a left-foot shot that is well blocked by either Senaya or Adjetey, both of whom were stretching towards the ball.
45+2 min England’s most promising attacks have tended to come through Noni Madueke. On the other side, Anthony Gordon has again been a bit subdued.
45 min Six minutes of added time.
43 min Semenyo twists and turns to win a corner for Ghana. Ayew takes, Konsa heads clear, the end.
42 min The first bit of menace from Semenyo, who overpowers James near the touchline, then turns and moves into the England area. Konsa tracks him all the way, stays on his feet and makes a well-judged tackle.
41 min Rice tries to nick the ball off a defender, catches him fractionally late and is booked.
40 min “Hiring Carlos Queiroz really is a deal with the devil, isn’t it?” says Tom Hopkins. “He’ll get you to a World Cup at which you’ll do….ok, but geez that comes at a price.”
When Man Utd won the Champions League in 2008, thanks mainly to a defence that was coached by Queiroz, I was flootered for a month, so I’m not best qualified to comment.
36 min Madueke skins Mensah, gets to the byline and stands up a deep cross that is headed over by Rice. A tough chance but a lot better from England, who have upped the tempo since Thomas Tuchel’s hydration-break team-talk.
34 min “God, I’d forgotten all about that Fall album, Extricate,” says Nick Parish. “My mate Bob played it to me to death back in the day trying to get me into it, and completely failed, with the exception of the inexplicably but somehow obviously delightful Bill Is Dead. Perhaps I should go back and try it again.”
I think Bill Is Dead is an astonishing song. From memory, James Murphy chose it as his last song when he did The First Time… on BBC 6 Music.
33 min Madueke injects some urgency with a run infield from the right. He’s crowded out eventually but the ball breaks to Bellingham, whose shot from the edge of the area is blocked by Partey.
For all England’s frustration, Ghana are defending superbly.
30 min “I’m at Turandot at Opera Holland Park,” chirps Gary Naylor. “We’re about 15 minutes away from Nessun Dorma. That would be a good tune for football – I’m surprised it hasn’t been done.”
A bald-faced plug there from Naylor, and why not.
29 min Back under way.
27 min It’s been a quietly frustrating start for England, who are struggling to find space in the final third. Carlos Queiroz has only been in charge for a couple of months but this Ghana defence bear all the earmarks of a Queiroz team.
26 min Scratch that, it’s time for the ad break.
25 min Maybe I’ve done humanity a disservice – the match has continued and there’s no sign of an official hydration break. England pick up where they left off, probing to find an eye in the needle.
24 min Play resumes.
22 min A clash of heads between James and Ayew leads to a break in play. The players wander over to the touchline, but it’s not the official hydration break, no siree Bob, so the referee waves them back.
This is a bit daft because the referee is going to blow for the official hydration break almost as soon as play resumes.
I suppose, as Danny Blanchflower famously said, the adverts have to go out at a certain time.
21 min England have had a whopping 88% possession, but they’re still waiting for their first shot on target. This is a good test for a team who aren’t always the best against a low block.
20 min No counter-attacks of note from Ghana, which is another way of saying Antoine Semenyo has been quiet so far.
19 min “This Golden Boot race really is one for the ages, Rob,” writes Simon McMahon. “Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Ronaldo, Kane. It’s like a who’s who of modern striking greats. But if you think that’s an impressive list, just wait until Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes both get hat-tricks against Brazil in Miami” tomorrow…”
16 min Relentless pressure from England. Spence’s cross is cut out by the near post by Adjetey, who then does well to block Rice’s follow-up shot from the angle.
15 min Kane wins a long ball in the air and is headed from behind by Adjetey. It was accidental.
14 min Free-kick to England, 30 yards from goal. It’s touched off to Rice, who spanks it a few yards over the bar. Decent effort but the keeper had it covered.
13 min “I’ll never grow out of the fact that Paul Weller’s Out of the Sinking is the one tune that means football,” writes Colin Livingstone. “This is from its time many years ago as the Sky Super Sunday theme. Guitar riffs for days.”
If you’re talking evocative songs rather than themes, this is the first thing that came to my mind.
12 min Madueke plays a clever pass to the underlapping James, whose pass into the six-yard box is crucially cut out. That’s England’s best move to date.
10 min Bellingham tries to run onto a loose ball in the area but is well tackled by Mensah. England have started with the mixture of patience and intensity that Thomas Tuchel wanted; now they need some penetration.
7 min Ghana haven’t just parked the bus; they’ve taken the wheels off too. This isn’t a pejorative observation, and actually I’m quite excited about seeing whether England have the necessary subtlety to break them down.
3 min The first few minutes have been a training exercise, England’s attack v Ghana’s defence. Ghana’s newish head coach Carlos Queiroz certainly knows how to organise a defence; he was the unsung hero of Manchester United’s 2008 Champions League win. (See entry No5 here, or better still read Michael Carrick’s book.)
2 min “The punch of Elastica would surely make for a more exciting stadium sing-a-long than the morose Wonderwall,” writes Adrian Riley. “Maybe people struggle to remember the titles. Still, lets hope England don’t Stutter tonight, as they Line Up they need to find that Connection and be Waking Up the possibilities of winning this thing. Rather than, erm, going home singing to a Car Song.”
Shame England didn’t pick Martin Allen.
1 min Peep peep! England, in the form of Declan Rice, kick off from left to right as we watch.
A reminder of the teams
England (4-2-3-1) Pickford; James, Konsa, Guehi, Spence; Anderson, Rice; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: D Henderson, Trafford, O’Reilly, Stones, Chalobah, Burn, Quansah, J Henderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Rashford, Eze, Saka, Watkins, Toney.
Ghana (4-3-3) Asare; Senaya, Opoku, Adjetey, Mensah; Yirenkyi, Partey, Sibo; Williams, Ayew, Semenyo.
Subs: Ati-Zigi, Anana, Seidu, Mumin, Rahman, Oppong, Luckassen, Owusu, Boakye, Fatawu, Thomas-Asante, Baah, Sulemana, Nuamah, Adu.
Referee Said Martinez (Honduras)
Paul MacInnes
France will take on Norway in Boston on Friday for the right to top Group I, but one man thinks it’s already done. “Honestly I don’t care that much”, Erling Haaland told Fox in the US. “They’re probably going to win against us. They’re probably going to win the whole tournament.”
Haaland may have been playing mind games, and you will not hear Didier Deschamps making any such argument. But the French head coach certainly took satisfaction from his team’s storm-hit but ultimately straightforward victory over Iraq. Featuring another Kylian Mbappé double and two more assists for Michael Olise, this match’s notable success was Ousmane Dembélé’s arrival at the party, scoring his first tournament goal at the 20th attempt.
The Ballon d’Or winner got a second-half goal, finding separation in the box to convert a smooth Olise assist with a shot across the Iraq goalkeeper, Ahmed Basil. By this point he already had a notable assist, squaring simply for Mbappé after snaffling the ball during another Iraq defensive snafu. This brought particular joy to Deschamps as it ended the recent line of media questioning as to the role of the Paris Saint-Germain star in the team.
“There is no issue with Ousmane, he has had to readapt to a system he doesn’t play all year,” was Deschamps’ post-match verdict. “As long as Ousmane is well physically, it’s just fine-tuning. I trust in Ousmane, he knows that, and doing what he did today was important. He’s a decisive player, so is Kylian, but Ousmane has that capacity.”
Dominic Booth
In 10 of the past 12 World Cups, six goals has been the standard to bag yourself the Golden Boot. Usually a goal per game will suffice. In fact, on two occasions (in 2006 and 2010) a mere five strikes has been enough. Yet a quick glance at the current 2026 Geopolitics World Cup Golden Boot standings after most teams have played two games sees Lionel Messi top of the tree with five goals already from his two outings, having broken Miroslav Klose’s all-time tournament scoring record in the process.
The Argentinian’s latest two goals came in a 2-0 victory over Austria in which neither Argentina nor Messi did anything of note other than score – aside from the great man shanking an early penalty miles wide, which is becoming quite the common occurrence for Messi. Think how many World Cup goals he would have if he could beat a goalkeeper from 12 yards (answer: 21, three more than he has).
The conditions in Boston are perfect for England. It’s raining, the temperature is in the low 20s, and no armpit hairs are sprouting.
Thomas Tuchel on England’s defending against Croatia
We need to do things better. Defensively we dropped a little too deep from a middle block into a low block and deep block, which is in itself not a problem, but we went a bit too early. We were a bit too man-man focused and didn’t rely enough on our structure to be able to push out again.
If you just look at our goal that we conceded we played a back seven formation, which is just not us. Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it just tells us: ‘Let’s not do this again.’ It makes no sense, it’s not us, it doesn’t play to our strengths. We had too many easy ball losses after ball wins, so we had a huge effort against the ball, win the ball, gave it back straight away.
Thomas Tuchel’s pre-match interview
[On the inclusion of Spence and Guehi] They deserve to play. They give us a little bit more speed and a different profile – Marc is faster and a little more agile than John [Stones], and it’s more convenient for him to play on the left side. Djed is faster and a bit more defensive, [which enables him] to control the counter-attacks.
[On Ghana] They are happy to give up possession. They want the opponents to feel safe, to fall asleep, and then they counter-attack with very fast and physical players. They’re not shy to use long balls. I think we will have a lot of duels in the full-back positions, and we need to be very aggressive to stop the counter-attacks before they get dangerous.
I just heard the grass is a bit long so we’re happy that it’s raining – let’s see, we need to adapt. We will have the majority of the ball, I think, and it’s important we find a good balance between patience and intensity.
We have a very difficult group, so after a tough first match comes another tough game against a strong opponent. We will go for the win.
Full time: Portugal 5-0 Uzbekistan
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal revved up with a comfortable win over Uzbekistan.
Who could England play in the last 32?
England probably need one more point to reach the knockout stage, though they’ll be looking for all six. Here’s what will happen if/when they get through.
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If they win the group they will play a third-placed team from one of five groups: E, H, I, J and K. (Worst-case realistic scenario: Senegal or Ecuador)
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If they finish second they will play the runners-up in Group K, probably Portugal or Colombia.
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If they finish third
send ‘em home anywaythey will play the winners of Group K, probably Portugal or Colombia.
“To be honest I came here expecting to read more about elásticos than Elastica,” writes Peter Oh, “but I do see the Connection.”
Barney Ronay
It didn’t take long for one wag in the travelling England caravan to come up with a deeply inappropriate nickname for that jazzed-up high-energy start to the second-half performance in Dallas last Wednesday. That name was: Packetball.
The word packet is, the Urban Dictionary confirms, slang for a small sachet of the same illegal and wholly inadvisable stimulant that was discovered in more than half of the Wembley Stadium toilets by a newspaper investigation after a home qualifier during the Southgate era.
Who knows, maybe England have found a way to connect on a more profound level with certain elements of the fanbase. There was often a sense of textural disconnect between the carefully metered football of that successful England team and the more adrenal demands of parts of the support crowd for a faster, quicker, more Packetball-coded style.
Ed Aarons
Antoine Semenyo was only 10 years old when Ghana came within a Luis Suárez handball of becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. The Manchester City forward can still vividly recall the emotions that night as he watched with his family in Bexleyheath, south-east London.
“I remember being at my uncle’s house, and we were screaming after the handball, thinking we were going through,” he said in an interview last month. “Watching Ghana play in the World Cup was so special. Mum, Dad, uncles, aunties, cousins all turn up to one house, and we would watch all the games together, celebrating and screaming. Ghana came in [for me] when I was 19 or 20, so I was never going to turn it down.”
Yet while Asamoah Gyan and co certainly made an impression on the young Semenyo – who will come up against familiar faces in Nico O’Reilly and John Stones against England in Massachusetts on Tuesday – the legacy of the Black Stars’ historic run to the quarter-finals in 2010 in South Africa has largely been disappointment. Ghana’s appearance at the next World Cup in Brazil ended in an early elimination after finishing bottom of their group and they didn’t fare much better in Qatar four years ago, despite beating South Korea. Their failure to reach the Africa Cup of Nations finals last year for the first time since 2004 was a national embarrassment that was only eased by qualifying for a fifth World Cup.
Team news
England make two changes from the win over Croatia, as flagged half an hour ago by Jacob Steinberg. Marc Guehi and Djed Spence replace John Stones and Nico O’Reilly.
Thomas Partey, who missed the match against Panama because his visa application was rejected by the Canadian government, replaces Elisha Owusu in midfield. That’s one of four changes from the Panama game. The goalkeeper Benjamin Asare, who replaced the injured Lawrence Ati-Zigi at half-time against Panama, starts tonight. Inaki Williams and Kwasi Sibo are preferred to Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ernest Nuamah.
England (4-2-3-1) Pickford; James, Konsa, Guehi, Spence; Anderson, Rice; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: D Henderson, Trafford, O’Reilly, Stones, Chalobah, Burn, Quansah, J Henderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Eze, Saka, Watkins, Toney.
Ghana (4-3-3) Asare; Senaya, Opoku, Adjetey, Mensah; Yirenkyi, Partey, Sibo; Williams, Ayew, Semenyo.
Subs: Ati-Zigi, Anana, Seidu, Mumin, Rahman, Oppong, Luckassen, Owusu, Boakye, Fatawu, Thomas-Asante, Baah, Sulemana, Nuamah, Adu.
Referee Said Martinez (Honduras)
“If I were Elastica, I would simply make a first album so great that whatever came after it didn’t matter,” writes Zach Neeley. “Obviously that’s not true, I would struggle to match the quality of Body Wishes. Hats off to Justine Frischmann, who helped make Suede, made Elastica, had an important hand in the one truly great M.I.A. album, and then most impressively, said I’m out.”
Agreed. I feel like that bit gets more impressive by the year.
This is only the second meeting between England and Ghana (men’s football department). The first was a really enjoyable 1-1 draw at Wembley in 2011, when Asamoah Gyan scored a late equaliser after Andy Carroll had given England the lead. This was the England team:
Hart; Johnson, Jagielka (Lescott), Cahill, Baines; Milner, Barry, Wilshere (Jarvis); Downing, Carroll (Defoe), Young.
In today’s first World Cup game, Cristiano Ronaldo is filling his flourescent boots against Uzbekistan.
Rob Draper
The Football Association has remained coy over what will happen when England line up for their next World Cup match, against Ghana on Tuesday, and come up against a familiar opponent in Thomas Partey. The former Arsenal midfielder played for Villarreal this season, but will be released at the end of his contract this month.
In the pre-match ceremony, all players are expected to shake hands with opponents and the FA will leave England’s players to decide whether they wish to go through the ritual with Partey. The squad includes two of his former clubmates, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
For some, a handshake will seem uncomfortable. Partey is scheduled to go on trial next year at Southwark crown court after he was charged with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault last year. He was later charged with two further counts of rape. Partey has denied all the charges, with his lawyer insisting that he welcomes the chance to clear his name.
David Hytner
Inside the foyer of the England team hotel in Kansas City, along with the TV screens that show the World Cup matches, there is an anachronism. It is a record player and it is worth reporting there were younger members of the squad who looked genuinely baffled by it. What were these strange plastic circles that went on it?
The Football Association found out the favourite songs of each player and obtained vinyl versions of them. And very popular the whole thing has been, even if Harry Kane has been determined to play country and western on it. Harry, this is not leadership.
Music has been the answer for England. As their training sessions have got under way, there have been songs blasted out from pitch-side speakers. On the Sunday before last, for example, it was Dr Dre, Coolio and Tupac. Luther Vandross has also been heard. It has been eclectic. But for the moment of communion, which came after England started their Group L campaign with the 4-2 win over Croatia in Dallas last Wednesday, it was all about Oasis.
Ghana started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Panama. Caleb Yirenkyi’s injuy-time goal turned frustration into joy, and one point into three.
It’s fair to say this isn’t a vintage Ghana side; they didn’t qualify for the most recent Africa Cup of Nations, the first time that has happened since 2004. But they have Antoine Semenyo, arguably the best wide forward in English football, and Yirenkyi looks a star of the future. Maybe even the present.
Jacob Steinberg
Spence and Guehi set to come into England XI
We’re expecting two changes to the England team that beat Croatia last week. They come in defence, with Djed Spence set to play one of the full-back roles and Marc Guehi starting in central defence. It’s likely to be Spence over O’Reilly at left-back.
Preamble
Ever do that thing where you fix one problem and unwittingly create another? If so, there are three lions who know how you feel. To explain. For decades, England were notoriously poor starters at a major tournaments. Between 1986 and 2016, they won only two of their 14 opening matches at a World Cup or European Championships. Then Harry Kane scored a late winner against Tunisia in 2018 and it all started to change.
Englnd have won their last five opening games, culminating in Wednesday’s happy-go-lucky 4-2 defeat of Croatia. But that has facilitated a different problem, one with which all Stone Roses and Elastica fans are familiar: the difficult second group game.
At the last World Cup, under Boring Boring Gareth, England started with a 6-2 win over Iran. The next game was a bloodless, goalless draw with the United States. England cruised through the group regardless and eventually lost to France in the quarter-finals despite producing arguably their best performance under Southgate. A similar thing happened at the last two Euros, when victory in the first game was followed by deflation draws with Scotland and Denmark respectively.
A draw tonight, even a defeat, wouldn’t jeopardise qualification for the last 32 but it would pollute the ultra-positive vibe created by the win over Croatia. Such things matter more than ever. If the fans are England’s 12th player, as the cliché goes, then Maurice Mentum is their 13th.
Kick off 9pm
