Key events
74 min Easy to forget, this being an English newspaper, what a draw would mean for Ghana. They haven’t played a World Cup knockout game since their unimaginably painful defeat to Uruguay in the quarter-final of 2010. A point tonight would all but ensure a place in the admittedly inflated knockout stage.
73 min: Double substitution Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze replace Jude Bellingham, who had a modest game, and Elliot Anderson.
72 min “Thomas Tuchel’s value won’t be seen until the knockout rounds when England play teams that are on the front foot,” writes Brendan Murphy. “Frankly, I’d be happy for England to just say: ‘Ok, eff it, you don’t want to play we won’t either. Queiroz is a famous pain in the arse. Don’t get worked up, take the point and move on…”
Yeah, in isolation this game is irrelevant to England’s chances of success, but I worry slightly about the impact on the all-important vibe.
71 min Hydration break o’clock.
70 min I’m surprised we haven’t seen Ivan Toney, who is probably England’s best option against such a deep defence.
England would have loved to have Toney at the back post to meet a brilliant cross from Madueke. Instead it was Saka, who couldn’t quite get on top of the ball and headed over the bar.
69 min Kane swishes a low, left-foot drive from 20 yards that is held by Asare as he falls to his left.
68 min Prince Kwabena Adu, who has just come on, runs onto a through ball that lures Pickford from his box. Pickford misses the ball, then collides with Adu – and the referee gives a free-kick to England.
It’s been cleared by VAR but I’d like to see that again.
67 min: Ghana substitutions Prince Kwabena Adu and Abdul Fatawu come on for Jordan Ayew and Inaki Williams.
65 min: England substitutions Bukayo Saka and Nico O’Reilly replaces Anthony Gordon and Djed Spence. That’s interesting; I assume Madueke will move to the left. O’Reilly is a much bigger goal threat, especially against a low block, than Spence.
63 min Gordon has improved a lot in the second half. When a free-kick is half cleared, he guides a careful pass across the edge of the area to Madueke, who opens his body and curls over the bar.
62 min That shot from Gordon in the 57th minute was the first on target at either end.
61 min Inaki Williams is booked for a lunging tackle on Gordon, who is starting to stir. Rice takes the free-kick and picks out the unmarked Anderson at the far post; his powerful header is well blocked.
59 min “Our wide forwards definitely seem to be the weak links at the moment,” says Fin. “Gordon and Madueke seem way off the level. Saka can help the right but will Rashford get the nod and not just as a finisher?”
I like Madueke. He’s erratic and frustrating, but at his best I think he can ruin any full-back in the world. Okay, most of them. He’s not as good as Saka but he is quicker and more direct, and England really need that in wide areas. Although Gordon’s start to the tournament is a bit of a concern, I think he (or Rashford) will be more threatening against better teams.
57 min England move the ball sharply from left to right, across the edge of the area. Madueke’s deflected shot is headed away in the six-yard box, then Gordon whips a shot straight at the keeper from the edge of the area.
54 min Bellingham takes a tumble in the area after running into Opoku. I don’t think it was a dive, but not was it a foul.
53 min “I missed an Elastica discussion,” writes Beau Dure, “Dang. That was a strong album through and through. FWIW, I thought the second Stone Roses album was great.
“I love hearing the Alan Parsons Project song Sirius as teams take the field. It’s a callback to the arena intro that raised the bar like a Mondo Duplantis of the 1990s.
“I think if I were on an opposing team, I’d race to the changing room out of abject fear even before they got around to introducing Michael Jordan.”
I’m not sure I’d call it a discussion. But it always warms my heart to know that there are football tragics out there who are as cool as me also like Elastica, and Bill Is Dead, and Jetplane by Sorry.
51 min I like Anthony Gordon a lot (sorry, Roy) but he hasn’t been at the races so far, and his defending was really poor just then.
50 min Ghana apparently have come to play in the second half. Mensah (I think) drives an extravagant crossfield pass towards Senaya, who ignores a half-arsed challenge, chests the ball into the area and stretches to hit a shot that is crucially blocked by the covering Spence. The ball ricochets across the area and eventually so safety.
48 min Bellingham reminds everyone of his defensive acumen with a perfectly judtged tackle on Semenyo just outside the England area. I know he’d be wasted at No6, but there’s a part of me that wants to see him and Rice as a double pivot. Mind you, there’s a part of me that still wants to see Paul Ince and Roy Keane 2.0 as a double pivot.
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…”
