Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and co couldn’t inspire England to victory as they instead produced a lacklustre display in their second World Cup outing against the USA
The demeanour of the England players at full-time told the story after their lacklustre draw with the USA in Qatar.
There was huge optimism surrounding the Three Lions after they hit six past Iran on Monday to get their World Cup off to the best possible start. They were dealt a reality check though by the Americans, who may feel aggrieved they didn’t pick up all three points on Friday night having looked the better side for long periods.
England lacked any real cutting edge as they struggled to offer any threat in the final third with Harry Kane missing a late header after Mason Mount had forced Matt Turner into a producing a decent save just before half-time. There was a visible drop in the mood within the Three Lions camp after the stalemate.
Several players are being supported by their families out in the Middle East – and their faces summed up the mood as they talked with those closest to them. The overriding emotion at full-time was frustration as England’s star-studded line-up struggled to produce the fireworks they did just days ago.
Harry Kane looked lost for answers as he sat with his wife and children. The Tottenham forward is yet to score in the tournament and confessed they were not clinical enough. He told ITV : “Wasn’t our best performance for sure, had some good spells with the ball, got in some good positions but didn’t quite have the final product.
“Great clean sheet puts us in great position. Being clinical (was the problem) , the complete contrast to the Iran game, we took our chances really well. Today we had two or three good opportunities but didn’t manage to put them away, overall we’re playing a tough team, move on.”
Harry Maguire, who was among England’s standout performers, was snapped talking to those close to him – and looked equally disappointed. He confessed: “Wasn’t at our best but in the end, it’s a point, puts us in a strong position in the group. World Cup games are never easy we knew coming into the game they were a good team.
“We’ve watched them and they’re a good team, play at a big tempo. We had to work hard and maybe nicked it in the end, they had a couple of chances and we could’ve been a little bit more clinical and won the game. There’s some positive parts and we’ll take the positive parts but we’ll work on what we need to improve on.”
England look set to qualify for the knockout stages, barring a huge loss to Wales on Tuesday. It is their performance though that may ring alarm bells as they look to build on recent results at major tournaments.