Thomas Tuchel was frustrated by Harry Kane’s inability to score a golden late opportunity as England laboured to a goalless draw with Ghana tonight.
Kane, England’s leading goalscorer and widely regarded as one of the best finishers in the world, fired over with three minutes to go after Nico O’Reilly had headed against the bar.
It completed a miserable night for Bayern Munich star Kane who was one of several England attacking players that struggled to make any impact against Ghana’s defensive set-up.
The Three Lions had 78.8% possession but barely troubled Ghana goalkeeper Benjamin Asare until the latter stages.
Tuchel said of the Kane chance: “Normally, a clear goal for us. It’s a big chance and then another chance. It would’ve been deserved. We knew it would be difficult. They went even more defensive than in the first match; they defended in a 4-5-1. We found our intensity the longer the half went on but we couldn’t get the reward.
“We were very good at defending the counter-attacks for most of the match. We have to pay a huge amount of attention to that. The substitutes were very good.”
Kane added on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’m backing myself to score [that late chance] more often than not. One of those but I’ve lived the striker life long enough to know they’re not always going to go in. I back myself nine times out of 10 but it just didn’t fall my way today.
“We wanted that second win today but it wasn’t to be. But overall we’re in a good position and we look forward to the next one.”
Rice focuses on the positives despite England disappointment
Despite the draw, England still top Group L and are almost certainly through to the knockout stages with Saturday’s game against Panama still to come.
And Declan Rice was keen to focus on the positives on a night of disappointment in Boston.
“It is always difficult when you play against 11 behind the ball as deep as they were, but you have to find solutions. In the last 10 minutes we were unlucky not to score,” said the Arsenal man, who had England’s two best chances of a woeful opening 45 minutes.
“We still have a great chance to top the group against Panama so positivity all round. They were very compact, tight spaces to play through, but on the other hand we can do more with the ball.”
Queiroz masterclass nets point for Ghana
Ghana got the point they came for with boss Carlos Queiroz setting his side up superbly. The Black Stars also have four points from two games and seem set to join England in advancing.
Rice added: “You have to give credit to Ghana. It’s tough and they are good players so it was never going to be an easy game. We have one more game to top the group so we have to be positive.
“Loads of top nations draw the first game so there is no need to be negative or downbeat. We will stay positive.”
