How Ghana's 'compact' defense forced England into 'very frustrating' draw

FOXBOROUGH, MA — By almost every statistical measure, England dominated Ghana in its June 23 World Cup match.

Even so, the Three Lions weren't able to get on the board, settling for a goalless draw against Ghana.

England midfielder Jude Bellingham was succinct in describing his initial feelings about the draw.

"Very frustrating," Bellingham told reporters after the match.

It's easy to understand why Bellingham and England felt that way. The Three Lions outshot the Black Stars 18-2 during Tuesday's match and won 72% of the possession.

Despite the numerous scoring chances, England wasn't able to find a way to get the ball past Benjamin Asare.

Part of that was due to a Ghanaian defense that Bellingham deemed worthy of significant praise.

"Credit to them. They got exactly out of the game what they played for," Bellingham said. "Couldn't quite break them down, even with all the corners, all the possession, all the shots on goal from distance."

Specifically, Bellingham credited Ghana for maintaining its defensive shape throughout the match and acknowledged the Black Stars' strategy of funneling the English attackers out wide was an effective way to keep them off the board.

"It was all just a bit clogged in the middle," Bellingham said. "Fair play to them. Credit to them. They were excellent. We probably could have done a little bit more to open them up."

Playing "compact" was the exact goal Ghana manager Carlos Queiroz had outlined for his squad, according to midfielder Kwasi Sibo.

Defender Gideon Mensah believed Ghana achieved that goal and was pleased that his squad's combination of tight defending and swift counteracts proved effective against England.

"The plan is not to stay behind the ball the whole game," Mensah said. "But at some point, you need to accept what the game comes with it and play to your power."

Meanwhile, Sibo felt the Black Stars also took to heart the remainder of the advice the 73-year-old Queiroz doled out.

"He told us to fight for each other. He told that [in] this moment, he knows that we will suffer because we are playing against a great team," Sibo explained. "But still, we should keep our mentality tough, fight from the first minute to 90 minutes."

"I think we listened to him, we followed his instructions and we did a job for him."

As well as Ghana's defense performed, England's lack of finishing quality also played a major part in the draw.

After scoring four goals against Croatia and looking like a potent offensive side, England struggled badly to get its attempts on target against Ghana. In fact, it took until the match's 57th minute for Anthony Gordon to generate the team's first on-target attempt, which resulted in a rather routine save for Asare.

England also had a penchant for missing high throughout the match, as numerous quality scoring chances were sent high above the crossbar. That included Nico O'Reilly's late-match header, which hit the bottom of the crossbar and fell out, and Harry Kane's attempted follow-up – which Bellingham explained he addressed with the English captain post-match.

"I just told him there not to waste them now, to be fair," Bellingham said with a smile.

Despite the lackluster offensive showing, Bellingham insisted England wasn't going to get down on itself.

"No worries, no stress, no drama at all in there," the 22-year-old said, referencing the locker room after the match.

He also opined the draw was just "one of those things that happens" and expressed the importance of not getting too negative in wake of the result.

"My message has just been to make sure we stay positive, keep the good atmosphere we've got going," Bellingham said. "It's not the end of the world."

Indeed, it isn't, and England will still have a chance to advance atop Group L. It already has four points to its credit and a victory over Panama would guarantee it at least a share of first place in the group alongside Ghana.

And so, Bellingham and England know exactly how they will handle the days leading up to their final group stage match.

"We'll prepare, we'll watch the footage, see where we could have been better and prepare for Panama."