England’s boss Thomas Tuchel has urged the fans to keep faith after a goalless draw against Ghana at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday. The Three Lions dominated the contest but failed to convert their chances against the African team.
England registered 79% possession and 19 shots against the opponent but most importantly, could not find the back of the net. Captain Harry Kane had a golden opportunity to seal the game in the 86th minute but his left-footed shot went over the bar.
“It is a long tournament,” Tuchel told a news conference. “The boys tried everything and again they played with the right energy.
“I know it is a very difficult game and in this case, if one team tries to play and run against this deep block, you don’t find the spaces and it is difficult for you to create chances, it can be difficult to watch and it is not as exciting as two teams trying to win it in a more open game.
“We know. We always try to entertain our fans. It was difficult today, I hope they don’t lose belief. It is a long way to go. Credit to our opponent and I just feel like I was right: we play in a very difficult group.”
Meanwhile, Harry Kane scored a brace against Croatia and has scored 81 goals for England in 115 caps. However, none of the other English players have scored more than 20 goals for the country but Tuchel played down suggestions that they are heavily dependent on Kane for the goals.
“Does Argentina rely too heavily on [Lionel] Messi and France rely too heavily on Kylian Mbappé? It is just what it is,” said Tuchel.
“They are world class players and they do normally what they do. Everyone is pushing and we had three different goalscorers in the first match. To rely on Harry is just a natural thing because he loves the responsibility and he takes it.
“He was not involved as much as we would like to but it was just so, so narrow. Our two central defenders were responsible for the build-up and then it was basically eight against 10.
“It was difficult to find space. The little moments he had were just unlucky. The last one is normally a clear goal and would have gotten us a deserved win. We rely on Harry because we can, because he’s our forward, but we don’t over-rely on him.”
England will face Panama on Saturday.
