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.
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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.
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)
If they finish second they will play the runners-up in Group K, probably Portugal or Colombia.
If they finish third
send ‘em home anywaythey will play the winners of Group K, probably Portugal or Colombia.
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“To be honest I came here expecting to read more about elásticos than Elastica,” writes Peter Oh, “but I do see the Connection.”
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.
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; Mensah, Opoku, Adjetey, Senaya; Yirenkyi, Partey, Sibo; Ayew, Williams, Semenyo.
Subs: Ati-Zigi, Anana, Seidu, Mumin, Rahman, Oppong, Luckassen, Owusu, Boakye, Fatawu, Thomas-Asante, Baah, Sulemana, Nuamah, Adu.
Referee Said Martinez (Honduras)
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“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.
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.
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.
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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
