Carlos Queiroz was pulled into a pre-match flashpoint before England met Gana in Boston. Thomas Partey was booed when he touched the ball, and Djed Spence did not shake his hand in the handshake line.
Only Spence skipped the greeting. The Tottenham player pulled his arms back and waited for the next Gana player, while the official broadcast did not show the moment and 3Sports later published video of it.
Boston handshake line
The exchange happened before a World Cup match that had already become loaded with scrutiny around Partey. He was returning against former Arsenal teammates Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka after five seasons with Arsenal before moving to Villarreal in August of last year.
Partey’s reaction in the match was immediate from the stands. He was booed when he touched the ball, and the crowd response followed a pre-match scene that turned a routine greeting into the loudest moment before kickoff.
Partey and the legal case
The reaction was not isolated from the wider case around him. Partey faces accusations of rape and sexual assault in the United Kingdom, was accused five times by two women of crimes allegedly committed between 2021 and 2022, and was also accused by a third woman last year of sexual assault.
His defense said he continua a negar todas as acusações and that he had cooperated with police. He said he was innocent in February, and the trial may take place in January 2027.
England and Gana context
Partey had already been prevented from entering Canadá for Gana’s first World Cup match, so Boston brought him back into the tournament spotlight. The Telegraph reported that the FA did not issue any guidance to players about handshakes, leaving Spence’s choice as a personal act inside the pre-match protocol.
That left one visible split on the night: a standard line of greetings for most players, and one refusal that matched the public noise around Partey. The next issue for readers is the tournament trail itself — whether he keeps appearing in it while the legal case continues toward 2027.
