Crashing down to earth with a bump
After hitting Iran for six, England fall flat against US
IN THE World Cup of the underdog, England left the Al Bayt Stadium with bite marks all over their legs. Most were inflicted by a rabid USA team, who pressed and harried players in white shirts like a terrier chasing its own shadow. The rest were the result of a ferocious collective snarl from the travelling support at full-time.
The booing started up 15 minutes from the end when the ball was passed from side to side in defence, going nowhere fast. It reached a crescendo at the end of a game when the same starting XI which smashed six goals in their opening game mustered only one shot on target through a first-half strike from Mason Mount.
You never know what you’ll get from this England side and that’s becoming a problem. Heading into the Iran game without a win in five, Gareth Southgate picked a team which brimmed with energy, imagination and attacking menace.
Rattling in half-a-dozen goals, they looked like the big tournament team of 2018 and 2021. Against a USA side who struck the crossbar, dominated much of the game and should have won, they were back to being the team which drew 0-0 with Scotland in the second natch of the Euro 2020 finals. And everyone knows how that ended.
The big moment came during four minutes of added time when Harry Kane rose to meet a superb cross from Luke Shaw. Still awaiting his first goal of the tournament, the England captain missed the target and, in the process, summed up a pedestrian, ponderous, poor performance.
Four points after two games is no disaster. Against a Wales team taken to pieces by a rejuvenated Iran, defeat in the final match is inconceivable. They said the same before this clash against the USA, of course, and they really should have lost.
In three meetings with the Americans at World Cup finals, England have yet to win one. Beaten 1-0 in 1950, they drew in 2010 and were lucky to grab a point here, as well.
Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, such a clever player, smashed a firsthalf strike against the bar. In the tigerish captain Tyler Adams, meanwhile, they had the game’s best player.
Sitting on two points from two games, Gregg Berhalter’s team have now drawn six of their last seven World Cup group-stage matches against European opposition, a record Ted Lasso would kill for.
A tough nut to crack, they’re still in the hunt for a place in the knockout stages. Before a ball was kicked, they’d have taken that.
After an early chance for Kane — deflected wide — the United States began playing with zip, pressing their opponents to distraction as Southgate always warned that they would. The Three Lions were never at it. Back to being the team which couldn’t crack an egg in the Nations League, the energy, the spirit, the endeavour of a three-goal first half against Iran wasn’t there.
By the half-hour point, players in blue were enjoying themselves. What a let-off for England when patient build-up play saw former Celtic player Timothy Weah whip in a cross from the right.
One of the game’s most influential men, Weston McKennie had time and space. Alas, he didn’t have the finish as he volleyed the ball over the bar from ten yards.
While England passed the ball from side to side — reverting to the stereotype of cautious Southgate — the USA went forward with purpose. They looked the more dangerous team.
Pulisic doesn’t see much action at Stamford Bridge. Yet he really is the beating heart of Berhalter’s team. The bar is still rattling from the shot the No10 thundered in after the half hour. It came from nothing, Kieran Trippier allowing America’s main man too much space for a free hit.
Hardly renowned for his ability in the air, Pulisic then found a pocket of space for a downward header which crept wide of the post. Chants of ‘USA, USA’ were audible around the stadium, supporters taking heart from what they were watching. It was all America, just as it was in the first half against Wales.
Playing a high energy game comes with risks, of course. They did the same against Wales in the first game, then fell off a cliff in the second half. Could they sustain it against one of the tournament favourites?
In midfield, they had more purpose and endeavour. American captain Adams, now playing his football in Leeds, showed more grit than a Yorkshire miner. Facing his adopted homeland, the No4 was pumped. Identifying Jude Bellingham as England’s link-up man, the USA pressed him out of the game, leaving Declan Rice overworked and overwhelmed.
In a late England rally, Mason Mount’s snap shot from 18 yards had Matt Turner scrambling to turn it round the post. Southgate’s team had started the half well and finished it much the same way. The bit in the middle wasn’t great.
America were playing very well, with all the best players on the pitch. They had England where they wanted them. Winning corner after corner, the one thing missing was a goal.
As the game reached the hour mark with no real change, no real improvement, you could almost hear the English nation bellowing at Southgate to change it. Jack Grealish for Raheem Sterling they could live with, even if the Chelsea man seemed less enamoured -— heading straight down the tunnel.
Jordan Henderson for an ineffectual Bellingham went down equally badly with supporters, reinforcing the old image of Southgate as inherently cautious. In truth, it was an attempt to get to grips with a midfield in which England had been outplayed in a soporific second half where the boos at full-time acted as a wake-up call. Almost literally.