Ollie Watkins was part of an England side held to a 0-0 draw by Ghana in the rain at Gillette Stadium, a result that followed Harry Kane’s warning about repeating past tournament mistakes. England again failed to turn a second match into momentum after the opening win over Croatia had raised hopes of a different pattern.
Harry Kane in Kansas City
Before England flew from Kansas City up to Boston on Monday, Kane spoke to the squad about avoiding the second-game setbacks that had followed their opening wins in their past three tournament campaigns. Those previous examples were a 0-0 draw with Scotland at Wembley in Euro 2020, a 0-0 draw with the USA in Qatar in 2022 and a 1-1 draw with Denmark in Frankfurt at Euro 2024.
The warning was direct because the same sequence had already become familiar: England started well, then lost control of the second game. Last week’s win over Croatia in Dallas had created optimism that this tournament would break that cycle, especially after England played with intensity, dominance, a barrage of chances and the Premier League speed and rhythm Tuchel wanted.
Ghana in the rain
Ghana made that harder by defending narrow and deep in a 4-5-1 formation under Carlos Queiroz. England were forced into a physically draining match, with little space between the lines and fewer openings than they had against Croatia.
The shape mattered because it turned the game into a test of patience rather than tempo. England could not force the kind of flow that had made the Croatia performance feel different, and the draw left the older pattern intact.
Tuchel and the draw
Afterwards, Thomas Tuchel said the result was not a “reality check” and added that “everything is a reality check.” The phrasing fit the match: England had a warning, a chance to change the script and still ended up in the same place they had reached in earlier tournaments.
That is the immediate problem for England. The opening win over Croatia suggested momentum; the Ghana draw showed that the second game still exposes the same weakness. Whether Tuchel changes the approach is not answered here, but the pattern Kane highlighted before the flight to Boston held again on Monday.
