Football Daily - World Cup: England stall against Ghana – 5 Live Reaction

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

Relive the atmosphere and instant reaction from 5 Live at full-time as England are held to a goalless draw with Ghana in their second Group L match at the World Cup in Boston.Mark Chapman is joined by former England internationals Paul Robinson, Steph Houghton and Phil Jagielka, as well as correspondent John Murray to break down England's failure to break Ghana down.Hear from England's Declan Rice, Harry Kane, Marc Guehi, Jordan Pickford and manager Thomas Tuchel - and we also hear from Ghana boss Carlos Queiroz.Commentary of England's final group game against Panama is live on 5 Live and BBC Sounds on Saturday 27th June from 10pm.TIMECODES:00:08 - Full-time whistle and analysis 12:20 - Declan Rice with Kelly Somers 20:28 - England captain Harry Kane with John Murray 23:04 - Marc Guehi with John Murray 31:12 - Ghana boss Carlos Queiroz 37:00 - Jordan Pickford with Kelly Somers 40:48 - England manager Thomas Tuchel with John Murray

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And Carlos Kiroz and everyone from Ghana down there, it's fist raised. celebrations for Garner after a nil-nil draw against England and disappointment for all of these England fans who were hoping they were going to see England

pick up from where they left off but it's been an exercise in frustration here in the new England Patriots Stadium 0-0 and now England and Garner four points in the group and England not quite through just yet

No, England found it very, very difficult to play against the low block. That's a team that came with only one ambition, and that was to keep a clean sheet and try and nick a draw from this game. We've seen the way that they've played before, and England really did struggle against this low block. They dominated in every category, possession, territory, passes, even opportunities on goal, which were few and far between for both sides. There wasn't a lot wrong with Thomas Tuchel's sides performance in possession.

It was in the final third that they lacked. They didn't move the ball quick enough. They didn't create enough. And they found it very difficult. Croatia are a better side. They're ranked in the top 10. They brought two medals home from the last two World Cups. They came to beat England, Croatia.

They came to play. They were going to go toe to toe to. England found it very difficult to play against the lesser team who all they wanted to do was kill the game. And England didn't have answers today. Handshakes all round out on the pitch. Very different to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in England's first match. So four points apiece,

It's not confirmed they're through yet. Almost certainly four points will be enough to take their place in the knockout stages. But that is all to be confirmed after England nil, Garner, nil. And Mark Chapman is here with us inside the stadium. And there are real scenes of joy from the Garnan supporters here. Most of them clad in yellow shirts, hugging each other, hugging anybody that's in the vicinity as well. Very happy with their point as the Garnetian bench were.

And I know you said there at the end they came here to stifle England and play for the point. What you would say, and we've got plenty of time to reflect on England's performance, Paul. They had two or three breaks in that second half

where they could have nicked more. It's exactly the way they played against Panama and that's what we said about them before the game. We knew how they were going to play and yes, it's not an attractive style of football to watch

but it's certainly an effective style of football and it's a style of football that the coach has chosen to employ and what he's got there is a buying from every single player to a man everybody stuck to their task every single one of them like we say put a shift in nobody left their post as such

everyone stayed you know on point the whole time and as a team as individuals and as a unit all of the above they were excellent at what they wanted to do yes their game plan was very different to England's but it was a game plan that the coach had laid out to get something from a game that he knew was going to be very difficult for them. They didn't give up much, did they garner? Steph Horton? I mean, England maybe had a couple of headers. There was the Baccio Saka shot. Obviously, Harry came putting the ball over the bar

towards the end, but you've got to give credit to how they defended as they all congregate at the moment, players, backroom staff in a big circle in the middle of that centre circle. They do deserve, and in fact, the goalkeeper Asari has been brought into the middle of that group and he is on his knees offering a prayer but he was excellent as well yeah he really was no I don't think we can take anything away from Garner I think I think Paul really said it there in terms of what they did today is what they wanted to do but I think sometimes Chappas you can get teams that playing that four five one formation are quite passive I felt as though Garner were really really aggressive and I think that's what England struggled with I think we needed up the intensity but

Garner to a man really, really, really did their jobs really, really well. And even when we were putting crosses in the box, Garner were just first to absolutely everything and really stifled England. And of course, the hydration breaks, the little bits of injuries that when Garner players went down, it really kind of disrupted our rhythm. But I don't feel as though we played anywhere near what we can do against this Garner side. I just look here, some of the stats, Phil Gagelke, you know, England had nearly 80% possession there. 19 shot, but only three of them were on target.

Yeah, and they were towards end of the game as well, so I think, you know, just to echo what everyone else is saying, Garner came with a game plan, they've basically played their perfect game. They had, what, two counterattacks, potentially could have had a penalty. If you look at the challenge from Concert, they could have walked away. They were probably closer to getting three points than actually we were. Just taught me through that, because I haven't actually seen a replay of that. We didn't see that in the stadium, but I have had a couple of,

the messages from people back home going, that could very easily have been a penalty. So could it? Yeah, well, to be honest, he makes a challenge and if it's the opposite way around, 100% we are asking for a penalty. So it's one of those.

I think we spoke about the Pickford incident, obviously when he's come out and he's ended up getting tackled and we won the free kick. I'd say we're fortunate the way that event went. And I would also say we're very, very fortunate with the way that the referee and his officials

interpreted the tackle from Conza. So again, Garner came. They've played to their game plan. They'll be absolutely delighted. They basically were really hard to be. As Steph said, sometimes a team can turn up, go four, five, one and just sit there and not do a thing.

But these came, they made tackles. They won headers. Obviously not too much in the first half, but a couple of opportunities in the second half. And, you know, it was a perfect game plan for them. The only positive for us is four points. You'd imagine we'd do okay against Panthers. I can't imagine maybe the next round

where we're going to get a team that would be so negative and be happy being so negative for the rest of the tournament so hopefully at least from a fan's perspective we'll get a few more Croatia games rather than we do any more Garnain games. No but I am guessing as Garner continued to celebrate the players have got the flag as they walk

off the Garner fans who are behind the goal away to our right have very much stayed the England fans away to our left applauded the England players who went over to applaud there. and they have thinned out a lot more than the Ghana fans at the moment who continue to celebrate and not many empty seats in there and not many people have left from the Ghana fans at the moment.

Carlos Kiroch still stands in his technical area at the moment just assessing the atmosphere and just assessing the players. I'm sure he'll head to be interviewed very surely. But whilst there may not be, I suppose, a side like Garner who will defending that same way with not that much willingness to go forward as England go into the knockout stages.

They have shown maybe how you can negate England a little bit and hit them on the break. Yeah, they're really stifled us to be honest chappas and I think that's something that you'd rather have happened early on in the group stages and until we get to the latter round you don't want that to be happening

so now it's all about solving problems and in creating that relationship to be able to create more chances because look I think we want our best players to be involved in the game as much as possible was harry kane as much an influence in this game as he was against Croatia probably not so how do we get involved in the game and how do we have fullbacks and wingers being able to have that relationship to cause problems for full backs and centre halves I think it's a learning curve of course a points a point we sit top of the group it's it's a great position to be in but I think especially the standard we set against Croatia,

I think everybody might be a little bit disappointed, but look, I think we're in that position that we're in at the moment. And I think for me, sooner to be having this experience of being able to maybe not break down that low block and take it into the latter rounds and know what we can do better next time. Alan Shear has said on television, Paul Roberts, not a disaster, but it is absolutely a reality check.

Yeah, you couldn't agree more. It's not a disaster because England will get out of the group unlikelyhood is that they'll beat Panama and they'll top the group and they'll go through as group winners as we expect. But I think that type of performance, it does act as as a reality check. It's interesting to hear the interviews that we'll have coming in shortly and to see

what the players say. I think they were very level after the Croatia game. I think it'll be pretty much the same coming from them. As I say the result's not a disaster. If they got beaten that was a disaster but actually a point in the grander scale of things it will probably allow England to progress through the tournament. We will

bring new reaction when we get it. I think Declan Rice Mayor Spokers. When we get Declor Rice we'll do that. We'll obviously hear from Thomas Tuchel as well and any other England players that come out and speak. Do you pay any attention? Is it just a quirk, Phil Jagellka,

that now we are on the fourth tournament in a row where England have played their second group match and not won it? Again, it depends which way you want to look at things. The fact of the matter is which way do you want to look at it? I will be positive. We're top of the group,

four points basically. I expect to the next game, go as group leaders, hopefully fit, healthy squad. As Steph said, a little bit of a reality check, maybe there is a bit of an element of problem solving. No, we weren't getting carried away as it was. Well, I don't think the players and staff were, maybe the whole nation was, as we always do, when we're in a game. But as I say, I think it's a little reality check.

Not an amazing performance, not a bad performance by any stretch. We have still things to work on. We know we're not the complete package. That's why we've come to this tournament as maybe one of the favourite. were not the favourites for the tournament so we have stuff to work on I'm as much as I was bored watching the game I'm still quite happy as an England fan

but it was a big thing in camp this week Steph was it you know we were told John Murray told us earlier Harry Kane had spoken to the squad about about the importance of this second game yeah I mean look I think because we've experienced and that but then you look back at the tournaments that we finish We've not really got the win that we wanted to in the second game.

But look, we've gone so far in the last couple of tournaments that it's not about panic stations. Now, of course, yeah, it would have been nice to have wrapped up the top of the group tonight. And then I maybe rotated a few players in the Panama game, but it's just not meant to be. And Chappas were at World Cup here. And I just don't want to disrespect Ghana because tonight they were really, really good at what they did. And they made it really, really hard for England to create the chances that we normally did if we had that a little bit more space. the athletic do a really good thing on their app or on their website of um which is called the bracket which if you subscribe to the athletic or have access to it is well worth looking at because it has

the percentage chances of where each team and it's not done like opta well the opta supercomputer it's just looking at the combinations of how the group stands and therefore what the percentages are of where teams might find themselves so as group and as group and L runner-up, which is England's group. It still has Ghana and Croatia, both just over 40% chance of finishing runner-up in that group, which will put them playing in Toronto on the 2nd of July, which means if you go over to the other side of the draw,

it still has England at an 87% chance of winning that group. Because, I mean, the big thing in all of that is that England have to play Panama last. Yeah, but it's going to be a different type of game now for Thomas Tuchel. because that Panama game, I'm sure he will have wanted to go into that, knowing that he'd top the group, knowing that he'd qualified and was able to make changes. But he's not necessarily going to be able to play the 11 that he wanted to from the start.

He's certainly got some thinking to do between now and then on his team selection because now it's a game that they have to go, they have to go out and go and win the game. Let's get our first bit of reaction after England, Nell, Garner Nell. Declan Rice with BBC television. Well, Declan is frustration, the overriding emotion at full-time? Yeah, I think so. difficult when you play against 11 behind the ball as deep as they was.

You've got to find solutions and last 10 minutes we probably found more than we did all game and we was unlucky not to score. But look, we stay positive. We keep going and we still have a great chance to top the group against Panama. So positivity all round. Why do you think you couldn't find those solutions today when you did so well against Croatia? You have to give credit to Ghana sometimes. You know, 5-4-1 off the ball. Very, very compact. tight spaces to play through. But of course, on the other hand, maybe we can do a little bit more with the ball

and create a bit more. But it's tough. They're good players that we said that. We've never going to be an easy game. And now we have one more in the group to finish top, so we need to be positive. The fourth tournament in a row where England have drawn their second group match.

You've got to finals in two of those tournaments. Does that perhaps show that there's no need to panic? It's all on track. Yeah, you know, 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.

You don't need to be negative or downbeat, as Declor-I speaks to Kelly Summers there. But you can still ask questions about why they couldn't break them down, can't you, Steph? Yeah, of course, and I think, especially with the quality that we have in the squad. And look, a lot of these players come across these formations, whether that's in the Premier League, the Bundesliga,

Champions League so they know what it takes to break teams like Garner down in terms of their formation, what they're wanting to do in sitting that low kind of block as a team and I think we had more than enough quality that was starting the game but also that came off the bench to be able to do that so I think of course yeah be happy that we're top of the group but I think for the standard and the expectation and the manager that we have I think even though it was a difficult night we have to try and find a way to score whether that's early on or in the last minute and I think that's what the players

have been really frustrated about because we have the tools to be able to unlock that defence. Yeah, we're here to look for reasons, aren't we? I mean, there's going to be a lot of positivity coming from the England camp because that's what they do

and that's the way they are under Thomas Tuchel. But we're here to have an opinion and to analyse the game and to see what they could do tactically. And the worrying thing for me sat here watching the game was the way England approached the game, yes, Thomas Tuchel is a very active,

proactive manager and his in-game changes are very good. and his in-game changes were good and the formation changes and the personnel changes so there was five personnel changes in an attacking sense obviously Nico O'Reilly left back but that still gives you an attacking threat he had five attacking changes changed the formation

a couple of times they went to a 4-1-4-1 which was very attacking and in all of that in 35 40 minutes when England did try and turn up the pace they still couldn't find an answer that would be the one worrying thing that Thomas Tuchel will be thinking about tonight why couldn't they find that answer I know I keep asking the same question to each of you. But particularly, let's say,

the last 15 minutes probably looked the brightest with, or was it 10 minutes, with Rashford on, then Ezra and Rogers as 2-10s, soccer on the right and came up front. That was probably the brightest period. But you also have to take into account then, don't you, that Garner are starting to tie. Yeah, but also when you look,

when you step back and you analyze it now, you know the way Garner are going to play. Now this is very, very difficult and controversial. Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice didn't need to play as two holding midfielders today. You could have had one of those. If you're not going to leave one of them out, you can afford to play Declan Rice higher up the field. You can afford to play Elliot Anderson higher up the field. Because as the game got late in England were chasing the game,

Declan Rice sat in front of a back four, a back four that had nothing to do the whole game. So when you look at the shape of the England team, there was no need for two defensive midfielders, and he changed that later in the game. And yes, the changes that he made affected the game. Saka changed the game. Morgan Rogers for me had the biggest impact coming off the bench. He changed the game. But why wait that late in the game?

When you know the way that the game's panning out, those changes either start like that or change at half time or change after 60 minutes when you can see the pattern of the game. Micah, Phil, has said on television, frustrating thing for him, England weren't brave enough. Yes, we knew they were coming up against a team

that were set up in a low block. I felt there were too many safe passes. You need to be braver when you come up against a team in a low block. long. Yeah, I think that can be said especially to probably the first 45, 50, 60 minutes of the game. I don't know why that was. It was alluded to, obviously, everything was a bit sideways and a bit too easy. We did make, what, like Robo said, five really attacking substitutions. Again, we maybe showed them a little bit too much respect with the team we picked on the counterattack. You know,

obviously, they had a lot of pace and power going forward, but they didn't really show it in the first half but it's really easy to say after you've watched the game and you sat watching it on TV or in the stand like you guys are what you did wrong so maybe we're expecting more of an attacking threat from Garner on the counter attack and they didn't really throw us that and again a little bit too safe first half but the England camp will still be positive again it's up to us now to turn up it would have been nice to have had the the top of the table sorted for the last game but you know we'll just have to make it a little bit harder and a little bit more exciting in the third game against Panama.

Talking about the formation change and being braver, from the manager's point of view and the coach's point of view, and actually none of us said that before the game, because how can you change a team that played so well against Croatia? That will have been his point of view. But he did, though. He did change that team, didn't he? Not system.

I'm talking about the two defensive midfielers. Because England, in that game, a lot of people will say they did not need those two defensive midfielders. If you're going to play that system, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, and very difficult to leave one of those out of your team. You can't. So just play one of them higher up the field,

which both are able to do. But also, there's a little bit more than, you can expand on it to be more than just system, can't you, Steph? I was watching, it may have been in the last five minutes, and Marcus Rashford was hugging the touchline, and that was right in front of England's technical area, and Thomas Tuchel was there,

and Mark Gai, he was on the ball, and Tuka was pointing at Rashford to tell Gai to play the play. the ball to him. But Gabe probably took another three, four, five touches. And it's very easy saying this from sitting up here, not being at pitch level, never having played professional football in my life. But the impression was Tuchel wanted that ball moved quicker. Yeah, without a doubt. And I think that's one of the secrets of trying to break down a team that's really defensive and is really compact and really structured is that how can you make the pitch as big

as possible, but also you need to do it quick. And I think that was ever. evident in the first half, I think, if Gordon Madwecki had stayed a little bit wider, really stretched Garner in terms of from a defensive point of view, because especially when you're getting through the game chapters to defend like that for a full 90 minutes from a concentration kind of point of view, sometimes you're going to switch off and you need to try and find that moment. And when Rashford came on, I think he did need the ball a little bit quicker, but because Gey's taking that many touches, it's hard to do that. But I think overall, I think how intensely could just be that little bit quicker. And we've

got players that play at such a high intensity week in, week out for clubs that I think when you play against this system it's so important that you do things quickly because as a defender you like to see everything in front of you. You don't want people on your back shoulder. You don't want to be looking around. You want everything in front so then he can

make the decisions and it was very clear and I think for probably 70, 80 minutes. I think we made it a little bit easy for Garner to defend and to see where everybody else is but the likes of Rogers and Eze and Nico Riley trying to make the box I think it caused confusion and I I think there more bodies in the box allowed us to create their little chances.

And unfortunately, the chance that fell to Harry Kane, nine times out of ten, he would have scored that. I see you later. Steve Horton with us. Former England captain, Steph Horton. The current England men's captain is with John Murray. Yes, he is. Harry Kane standing in front of me. Frustration, I guess, is probably the word.

Feeling's very different in the aftermath of the Croatia match. Yeah, obviously disappointed not to win the game. It's a game we knew we'd have loads of possession and we did. They defended well in a compact block. They made it difficult to play through the middle of the pitch. So the game was more out wide and 1v1 jewels. And I think both both into the half, first half and second half, we've got some momentum there.

We've got some chances. And yeah, look, it's a game that we could have walked away 1-0, 2-0 and we move on. It was never going to be the prettiest game because of the way they play. But credit to them, they defended well, they're dangerous on the counter-attack. I thought overall we control. hold that pretty well.

They don't have many chances. So yeah, that we take the point and we move on. Were you lacking something today? Maybe just a little bit of quality, but these games are tough. I've played in these type of games. A lot of us have played in these type of games where it's almost 11 behind the ball.

You have to be patient, you have to break them down. You almost sometimes need an early goal to kind of open the match and they have to come out. But as the game gets longer at Neil Neal, they believe more, they defend with their heart. And like I said, we still had chances was in there. Obviously I'm backing myself to score that more often than not. You looked like you couldn't believe you didn't put it in the net.

One of those, but I've lived a strike of life long enough to know they're not always going to go in. I back myself nine times out of ten. Unfortunately, it just didn't fall my way today. I know you spoke to everybody about the importance of trying to win the second match because England haven't done that in the last three tournaments. You've not done it. That's not going to affect the mood? No, I don't think so. We're still in a lot. a great position in the group. I always talk about major tournaments

and splitting it into two chunks versus the group stage, making sure nothing crazy happens and you're not going into the last game, desperate to need three points and wait for other results. We're in a convincing position. We play Panama Nets,

which we expect ourselves if we play to our level to be able to win and hopefully top the group. So, yeah, look, we want to win. The last few tournaments hasn't been the second win and we wanted that second win today, but it weren't to be. But overall, you know, we're in a good position

and we look forward to the next one. Thank you, Harry Kane. Cheers. Thank you. Speak soon. Harry Kane, England captain with John Murray. We're expecting some more reaction. We'll hopefully hear from Thomas Tugel soon as well.

And in fact, as Harry Kane walked off, Mark Gaye walked in. John? Yes, slightly confusing. Yeah, I was speaking to you saying Mark, and actually Mark Gay was standing in front of me. Anyway, Mark, congratulations. First appearance at a World Cup, first of all. That's another little milestone.

Yeah, I'm grateful to God. I wouldn't be here without Jesus Christ, my Lord and my saviour. So I'm grateful to him. And yeah, I'm happy to help the team in any way. So what was it like out there to just said to Harry Kane? Frustration's the word, isn't it? Yeah, I wouldn't say frustration. I think it's so important to put things into perspective.

Life is about on another day, we would. win the game and everyone's buzzing and the main thing was that the performance was actually good. The performance, we looked like a team that wanted to score, that had chances to score goals and it's important that we just learn from this game and build. And they were exactly, as Thomas Tuchel suggested,

weren't they? Yeah, physical, very organised side, determined to do everything you see at the end of the game what it meant to them. So I think it's important that we give credit to them but like I said, it's important that we put things into perspective and try and learn and move forward. Yeah, so anyone listening at home who thinks, you know, there's a little bit of a bursting of the bubble here,

not the case? No, not at all. I think it's life. We all wanted to win today. That wasn't possible. So you look at what you can take from the game. Like I said, a lot of positives. On another day, we score the goals

and six points in the group. That wasn't the case today. It's just important that we know now it's in our hands for the next game and we just focus on that one. Exactly so, and we know, don't we, from Euro 2024, it's all about finding a way

through a tournament, isn't that? Absolutely. I think the fans, fans know that. The fans know that. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm the voice of reason or whatever. The fans are very aware.

And, you know, I think we're all glad because, you know, their support is needed and their support was definitely heard and felt today, for sure, in the stadium and back at home. But, yeah, as long as you carry on doing what we're doing, I think we'll be okay. Thank you, nevertheless, for the voice of reason, Mark.

Thank you. Speak soon. And there he goes, and from Mark to Mark. Sorry, which Mark was the voice of reason? well best which one it wasn't yes I thank you very much Phil Jackie Laker listened to Mark Gay's interview there

he's right isn't he actually look it's one of those things and it's not disastrous that's life sometimes and everybody moves on the issue with that which is 100% accurate is it then makes for a very short

post-match analysis show Yeah, it doesn't help us, does it? A nil, nil, doesn't help us at all. I say, at the end of the day, we've got four points. If you'd have flipped it every way around and got a draw against Croatia and we'd have beat Garner, we'd have been in a worse position. So we've got to look at it. We've got the main three points in the first game.

We'd like to have extending that today, got basically through top of the table, and look forward to plotting our route in the next round or so. I don't see it being a problem. I think we will still get to where we need to get to. But yeah, we just haven't made it quite as easy as we could have done, but it's basically as simple as that. Could we have played better? Yes, is the things that we need to improve on?

Yes, is it a good time to find that out about our team? Yes. So if you look at it, it's been a pretty decent night, even though we would have loved three points. I wonder whether the Mark Gaii interview as well, Paul, sort of reflects the tournament maturity of England and their growth over the last couple of World Cup cycles in that actually everybody knows that they will be all right.

Yeah, the understanding of a tournament and the understanding of tournament football and working your way through. I mean, how often do we see a team that not necessarily wins a tournament that goes deep in a tournament loses the first game or doesn't start too well, playing too well?

And it's a phrase that we use quite often growing into a tournament as long as you get better through a tournament. tournament but now that hasn't happened for England. I mean they started excellently and there's been a drop off in the second game. They'll have to win the third game and then they'll progress and then the real questions will start getting asked in the knockout stages. But the three kind of very gentle vanilla interviews that we've had, you're not going to get

anything else. It's going to be, it's a point, you know, it's a positive for us. We're going to, we've got four points now. We're going to move on. It's one of those days. It's difficult. And yes, you can understand that. But there are things to look at.

there are problems in that performance. There's players underperformed again in that performance. Anthony Gordon, for me, that's two games that he hasn't turned up in. He's got brought off in them both. The substitutes have made the difference in them both. I don't think he's played particularly well in there. Jed Spence came into the game today. I don't think he played particularly well.

I think there's players in that performance that didn't play well. Yes, there's going to be a positive tone coming from the England side. But I think that if we're going to analyse it, there's got to be questions asked over certain players. Do you think the Gordon performance was different tonight to the? the Dallas one in the sense of, and I'd have to have a look at the numbers to confirm this, but it certainly felt, observing it, he had more of the ball tonight than he did against Croatia.

I thought he had more of the ball, but I don't think he was effective with the ball. I thought he got into areas and he slowed it down at times. I don't think either winger, Madowecki in the first half. I thought the fullback played extremely well, and I think Garner marked both of them out of the game, and neither of them had an answer other than coming inside and keeping possession.

There was no real excitement down the wings until Saka came on and Morgan Rogers came on. Morgan Rogers was the one that looked like having the key to unlock a door, which then that brings the wingers into the game, the wide players into the game. It did feel, Phil, that neither of the wide men in Madweke and Gordon

really managed to get round the back of their fullbacks. That's because he didn't. I think it's simple. I think Maddoke got in once in the first half of his right foot where Declan Rice headed over the bar and maybe it might have he got in once in the second half

when he went on the left. So again, yeah, I think if you're looking at Gordon, I think he did a job for the team in the first game at Croatia. He closed down really well and didn't really get the ball. Whereas today, you could see it,

I think it was a five-minute period but he said on the TV when you could see Jed Spence passed him the ball and ran past him twice and it caused him a massive problem. I don't know why it took to about the 65th minute,

66th minute for it to happen. where you obviously overloading and going down the wing. Because there was no threat going the other way really. Yeah, well that's why we presume, again, we don't know the exact. I presume obviously he was chosen over O'Reilly was for his defensive thing, obviously, on the counterattack. But that wasn't really needed.

So yeah, it would have been nice to have seen the left side especially do a few more overlaps. And the first off, there's a couple inside runs from James, which he got slipped in once and nearly. got slipped another time but again i just don't think we we put them under enough pressure to do that because yeah they still defended those three or four opportunities towards end of the game but it would have been a lot more interesting if they'd have had to do that 10 15 times during the game it's a lot harder to do it you know those numbers rather than two or three times in the whole

90 minutes the 2023 ballandor france footballer is leonel messie the winner is christiana This is the story of the greatest rivalry in the history of sport, a rivalry that split football into two fates for a generation. There could be no, oh, Messi and Ronaldo are both great players. There had to be one that was better. They 100 million percent pushed each other to the next level. You know, we were the lucky ones who got to see it.

I'm Steve Crossman. This is Sporting Giants, Messi v. Ronaldo. Listen first on BBC Sounds. The Football Day at the People World Cup 2026. With my captain. Listen on BBC sounds. Now, Wayne Rooney has said on BBC one this evening, you're always hoping for that energy and that performance that we had against Croatia in the second half.

But these games are so difficult when the team sits back. You have to break them down. You have to find the space. For me, the key was getting crosses into the box, and that is where all the chances came from. but this was a typical Carlos Kiroche performance. Garner were excellent and they were disciplined and here is the Garner manager.

Well, the first goal, it's achieved. We qualify for the second round and I must say that I am so proud the way our players they fought during the game how much they stand behind the plan, the game plan and they always believe that we had the chance to win against a great team. I will say my humble opinion, England, they can be candidates to win the World Cup. But this is a result, an achievement.

First of all, it's a gift for our fans. Also, some of our players that we lost, like Salizu, Jeku, Kudu, some players that we lost, Zigi, we lost injury. It's a gift. It's a gift for them. And most important, it is the gift for the people of Ghana. Now, the first half was a bit of you sitting back and defending, defending. The second half would a bit different.

What did you tell the boys at recess? That's the way to win. When you have to defend, you defend. I cannot play samba when they play rock and roll. That's the name of the game. But the goal was exactly to finish the first half with the English team. frustrated with no solutions. They went to the half time.

They knew they don't have solutions to beat us. And that was when we start to grow up and control the game. And we could score. Unfortunately, we didn't do it. But I think also England could score. So a draw is a fair result. Carlos, Keros there. And just to go back to praising Garner a little bit here, Paul Robinson,

only four teams now, now haven't conceded at this World Cup and Ghana are one of those and they face 30 shots and they still haven't conceded the other three teams Argentina Mexico and Spain Argentina 13 shots Mexico 12 Spain 9 so they're way ahead on the number of shots they face and yet they haven't

conceded a goal well you can see why I mean the performance we've we've given them credit for the way that they've set up they were very very narrow and in and the way that the defence sat on top, sorry, the midfield sat on top of the defence. So we all talk in commentary and in football terms about breaking through the lines, passes through the lines, players trying to find pockets of space and what they did well, not just well in the challenge, but actually off the ball, they closed space down and they were very, very quick to close England players down.

And it was a very well-organised defensive display. Like I said to you, Carlos Curus is a very pragmatic defensive-minded manager. But if you're going to play like that, that is not an easy way to play football. it's certainly not an enjoyable way for strikers to play Semenu and Iu will not have enjoyed playing in that system because they get nothing going forward scraps on the counterattack you have to have a big buy-in from all of your players

to do that for a long period of time and to keep concentration and disciplined all the way to the end and you have to be really on it defensively don't you Phil there were very few crosses into their own box that Garner didn't get their own head on first I can think of a couple of Elliot Anderson headers. I think there may be a Declan Rice header in the first half. But in the main, the Garner centre halves got on the end of every ball that came into their box.

Yeah, and we said there wasn't that many balls that came in box. I think both the fullbacks were so aggressive trying to stop the cross. Obviously, that was their job first and foremost. But as you said, as soon as the ball came in the box, more often not it was a Garnet head. It's obviously fantastic for them. They've got four points on the first two games at the tournament. there absolutely delight that's why you've seen the scenes we've seen on the TV afterwards it's a dangerous game to play when you set up so I'm not going to say

so defensively you know if you do end up conceding a goal you know it does put your game plan out of the window but fair play to him two 90 minutes played and still two clean sheets I think Mike has agreed with you on BBC 1 as well that on another day conscious challenge on Prince Adieu could have been given as a penalty Darren can has said we had our hearts in our miles when we saw Consa made that challenge. Not sure that's an impartial assistant referee view, but then he goes on to say as an England fan, I'm delighted it wasn't given, but I have to be honest, it should have been referred to

the referee. Concer made no contact still with the ball. He brought down his opponent. He's airborne. He's out of control. He makes contact with the attacker. So for me, that was a penalty kick. We didn't really see that shown again, did we?

The replays weren't shown inside the stadium, so maybe they thought that was. a contentious decision. But I mean, we've got the monitors on the desk where we would see the replays. I think there was a couple of replays that we got, but not from an angle where we could see him clearly get the footing on the Garnier and attacker first. So if England had got away from one. Jordan quickly take the free kick, but the ref did wait, to be fair.

So he must have had some sort of communication. Well, they must have done. Yeah, yeah. He let a lot go, though, the ref, didn't he? He let a lot go. So I think it was in keeping with his referee on the pitch. But like you said, if that was at the other end, I think we'd all be screaming.

Let's hear from Jordan Pickford. He's with Kelly Summers. George, another point on the board for England. But what's the overriding emotion after that? I think we knew it was always going to be tough against Garner. And they went into a, we knew they played counterattack and football. We kind of knew, but they probably went more 4-5-1 instead of 4-33. And, yeah, they were really hard to break down.

I think we had our chances and we ought to be wary of the counter-attack. It's football. You know, it's always that one. We need to get that first goal against them. You know, getting an early goal against them. It opens up the game a lot more. But they played a good game and, yeah, we've got to be happy. We're still top the group and focus on Panama now and finish strong on the group and top it.

England did have so much possession. Created a few chances towards the end, but you as well had to stay switched on because we saw the threats that they pose too. Yeah, exactly. That's what I've just mentioned there. We knew that they play counterattattatt. We've got Lexington, some Mennio, got some top players, some fast players. and you've got to be ready and be called upon

and that's what I felt like I did even though we're not making many saves just being in the right position at the right moment and some of the lads is defending as well towards the end of the game blocks, recovery runs it was top draw it was hard work put in

that people sometimes don't see and yeah we would love to win the game but we've not lost you know we know it's tournament football group stage football and it's in our hands to top the group Is it perhaps a bit of a reality check after the highs of last week?

No I think it's You play different teams every game and we just didn't get that goal. It's simple as that because we limited them to so many little chances and we played well. We kept going all the way to the end and just never managed to get that goal

but that's football. Do you think he might change the left side again for Panama, Phil? Probably. He may change the right side as well. I don't put anything past him, I think obviously we spoke before the game about Stone's not playing. He could potentially put him on the right side. I'm not 100% sure exactly how Panama will play against us,

but I'm sure he'll want to go out there and get a goal earlier and probably leave the group with a bit more of a positive sort of vibe. So, yeah, I could probably see potentially Gahey's staying in, but maybe O'Reilly coming in at left back to give us that natural balance. but I'm sure he's got many plans regardless of how the game's gone tonight what he was going to do for the Panama game this would be a plan A

if we'd got top of the group and maybe he potentially could arrest the few players whereas he'll have a plan B which will be the go out there and win and take that confidence through to the latter stages I suppose it also depends Paul doesn't know on how much he feels he still has to manage

certainly Bukai Osaka and maybe even Rashford a little bit yeah well I think that would be the decision for him with Marcus Rashford. I mean, we saw how late that he came on in the game today. And I think Anthony Gordon's impact, which I spoke about before, I think maybe that was the reason that he started on the left

hand side due to Marcus Rashford's fitness. We know that he's been carrying a knock. And he's been, he was a big impact when he came on against Croatia. And I thought he had an impact again when he came on today. But the left side, again, will be in question. But if Thomas Tuchel is good to his word and he does what he says,

he's going to pick a team to play against his opponents and personnel to play against his opponents. And actually I've just had a quick look at my Panama notes because I've done a few ahead of next week's game. Low block, low possession and a defensive side. So whether he goes to a 4-1-4-1 like he finished with there at the end, which they look better in, we may see a shape change because it's going to be more of the same for England. Which would go back to what we didn't say pre-match, but we did say post-match and maybe just changing that midfield balance a little bit. Let's hear from the England head coach live on 5 live.

He's with John. Yes, here he is. Thomas Tuchel walking across. Thomas, you did tell us it might be like that, didn't you? Yeah, I told you. And it was like that. I mean, credit to them. I rarely saw a physical performance like that from a team.

They defended with 10 players in a deep, deep block. So it made it difficult for us because they defended very disciplined and they were very physical on every position. So it took us a while to break this block down, to find the rhythm. Everything was in our responsibility to come up with the rhythm and to create chances. And at the same time, you need to be so careful to not concede counterattacks. We did all that. We created half chances.

We created deliveries. We created corners. But we couldn't get a goal to open the game up and to change the characteristic of the game. So it took a while even in the second half. and then with the energy and the fatigue of the opponent, the energy from our substitutes. We were there. We were pushing, pushing, pushing.

Had the big chance with Harry that he will never miss in this tournament again. So it is what it is. Go from here. We heard Carlos Keros say that he felt that at half time he didn't think England had the solutions to find a way through. You didn't think that, did you? No, I didn't think that.

It is difficult to find a way through if someone plays a 4-5-1 completely deep and is committed to it and they celebrated the 0 in the end like a win. So you could see the different approaches, which is fair enough and credit to them. Just cannot lose your head about it. You need maybe a shot, you need maybe a deflected shot, you need a second chance from a set piece, a little mistake from a defender, a one-on-one in the right moment. We tried to commit a little bit more the fullbacks. I expected them not that deep,

so we pushed our fullbacks to commit a bit more into attack in the second half. It took us a while to find our rhythm in second half. The substitutes helped, and then the fatigue set in. And then we created more and more the longer the game went, but couldn't score. Thanks Thomas. We'll see you for the next one.

There we go. Thomas Tuchel with us live on five lines. Thank you. And he follows on a little bit from Mark Gay, doesn't he? Phil Jage Elka with it is what it is. Yeah, quite blasé.

But again, he lets us know exactly how he feels and he's not really hide anything from us. We mentioned about the fullbacks, you know, passing and doing a couple of overlaps in the second half. I'm not sure why it took so long to... I mean, that would be the question, I suppose, is

could you have done that a bit more in the first time? Yeah, but again, you know, not sure what the game plan was. Maybe we could have used the hydration break to get that across after the first quarter, should we call it? But again, he's not, it's the same vibe from everyone that's spoken to us. And it's not the worst place to be. Everyone's pretty relaxed with where we are.

It puts us under a little bit of pressure in the last game, but no way near panic stations. And again, if we're going to learn a lesson, as Robo says, it looks like it's going to be a copy and paste sort of game. for England coming up next. So hopefully there'll be a few more answers in that, either the starting 11 or throughout the game to potentially get us a goal or two in the next game. You can maybe see what the reaction will be

over the next 12 to 24 hours, Paul. And, you know, should Rashford start, should Saka start, should Rogers start? You know, what do you do with Ezer, for example? particularly the first three may be given what they did when they came on. But that's the nature of the substitutes, isn't it? You maybe can make more of an impact because those people who've been on for the first 60 to 70 minutes have tired out the opposition. And not just at international level, but at club level as well.

We see lots of players, to their own detriment, they have such an impact coming off the bench. The manager puts them off the bench for that exact reason, because they've got such an impact coming off the bench. and I think that when you look at it he's got a squad of players that he does trust and he's not going to be open and honest and say he wasn't happy with this and tell us what he didn't like the positivity was always coming

I'm not surprised by any interviews that I've heard but this has made us ask the questions that he didn't want us to ask after this game after the Croatia game we all thought that England this was going to be the test how are we going to see England is it going to be on the back of that positive Croatia performance

how we're going to be waxing lyrical about the pace, the tempo, the attacking quality. These are the questions that Thomas Tuchel, with that performance, he didn't want for himself and he didn't want people from the outside asking. And I suppose the danger for England, such as it is, Phil, is teams will have watched these first two games. I think, okay, well, if you play like Croatia and try and go toe-to-to-to-to-to-with England, then you will leave yourself vulnerable. But if you can be compact and defend and have a decent threat on the counter,

maybe that is the approach to take. Yeah, but I imagine, as we're getting on a Latvon in the tournament, they would have an idea about that anyway. They'll look at our squad, to look at our team, and unless you are one of the top nations where you will go toe to toe with anyone and everyone, you'll have to come up with a plan of attacking and some sort of tactics. And yeah, I think it won't say it was obvious,

but I don't think it's that insane to think if you can frustrate England and hit them on the counterattack they potentially will leave themselves open for a couple of opportunities and you might be able to sneak or win. But we said before, as we get further on in a tournament when it's knockout football, you're a very, very brave manager of a national team if you're going to sit in and be as deep and negative

for a long, long period and what was it, 80% possession. There's not going to be that many knockout games when you get 80% in possession where you're going to then do 90 minutes, then potentially into extra time and then into penalties and win. You might do, but I think there comes a point where most teams as you get in the latter stages in the knockout tournament will have to open up at some point and hoping that we obviously get as far as possible, and we have got plenty of talent to be able to do that.

So, yeah, it is a little bit of a plan how to frustrate England, but I don't see, obviously Panama will probably do exactly the same, but I don't see past Panama, depending on obviously, we get after that, that a team would come and do it for such a long period as obviously Garner were able to today. And the thing we're Garner, Garner got a last minute winner against Panama, which allowed them to do that against us, whereas if they drew the first game,

then could they have come and accepted a draw, knowing that potentially that wouldn't have been enough for them to have qualified as even as a lucky loser? it's all part and parcel of how the tournament's gone for them really Phil thank you very much Paul thank you very much as Mark Gaye said that's live sometimes Thomas Tuchel it is what it is but we managed to eat nearly an hour out of postmatch so that's so that's not too bad

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