England serve World Cup reminder that Southgate-ball can be a tortuous watch
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England’s 4-3-3 shape was cancelled out by USA’s similar formation.
When Maguire did unzip his passing range, it was reasonably effective. On one occasion he pinged a cross-field ball to Raheem Sterling in space who drove at the US defence, and again late in the first half he found Luke Shaw creeping up the left wing, who in turn picked out Sterling and it led to Mount’s snap-shot which was parried wide. But those moments were all too rare. It was as if England felt conformable against Iran’s deep block but were scared to the point of inertia by the USA’s high press.
In the second half Bellingham took up slightly deeper positions without the ball in an effort to support the over-run Rice, while Mount led some effective pressing moments further up the pitch. But there was no momentum shift, and if anything the US seemed to grow in confidence in tandem with their fans’ increasing volume. The three-man midfield of Bellingham-Rice-Mount looked world-beating a few days earlier but now it was being beaten by the US, and sometimes single-handedly by the excellent McKennie. US captain Tyler Adams was also excellent, particularly when backtracking to defend.
On 65 minutes Southgate finally made two changes, replacing Sterling with Jack Grealish as a much-needed outlet to carry the ball upfield, and Jordan Henderson in place of Bellingham for a more naturally suited player to join Rice in suring up a leaking midfield. But there was no attacking change, no acceleration forwards.
Perhaps that was because England didn’t really need to win this game; a draw was enough to maintain their place on top of the group and put them on the verge of qualification to the knockout stages with that bumper goal difference to fall back on should things go pear-shaped against Wales on Tuesday night. Perhaps it was also because Southgate’s default is to be cautious, to reject risk’s many temptations, and this is the basis on which he has built much of his success as England manager thus far. Despite all England’s toils, arguably their most naturally gifted attacking player, Phil Foden, remained a forbidden fruit on the bench.
And so this match remains a far more realistic yardstick than Iran for where England are in this tournament, and perhaps a forewarning of what lies ahead. On this evidence it will not be an easy watch.
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