England stumble to a nervous draw against USA

The USMNT did not allow Gareth Southgate's team to score. England still can't beat the States in the World Cup.

The England team brilliantly played in their opening match against Iran and dispelled the doubts of those who expected them to fail for at least a few days. But the Iranian team fell apart early in that match and created all conditions for the England to exploit them. England needed another test, and the match with the US team was perfect for this task.

The United States shared points with Wales in the first round. Iran's Friday victory obliged the Americans to beat the favorites, but in order to get the win they needed to solve two problems - defense on set pieces and a sluggish/not clinical enough attack. Gregg Berhalter's team coped with the second task - in the starting lineup, Hadji Wright was chosen over Josh Sargent.

The Americans did not make any more changes to their starting lineup, but significantly changed the formation - against Wales, who played three in the back, the Americans lined up in 4-3-3, and then switched to 4-4-2. A very logical transformation: the first half showed that the USA did not have possession of the ball and mostly defended, but a pair of Weah-Wright pressed both of the English central defenders throughout the whole game. Moreover, there was more pressure on Stones than on Maguire, even though the Manchester United defender plays much worse with his feet.

Gareth Southgate, it seems, was not quite ready for this. England in general is far from ideal in positional attacks, but here they forced to come up with something. Something sensible rarely turned out - the US controlled empty zones and allowed little to be created at their own half.

True, the British still had another dangerous weapon - free kicks and corner kicks. For the USA, set pieces became a real problem in the match against Wales, because it was after them that the "dragons" created all of their dangerous chances. And England in the qualifying tournament scored the most goals from set pieces. However, the Americans made few fouls and almost did not allow any corners, so it was difficult for the British to turn it around.

The constant possession of the English team continued for about half an hour, and by the end of the first half, they got tired. From the very beginning, the Americans pricked the British with breakaways and counterattacks, and by the end of the first half they began to have chances. Musah succeeded in a tight shot, McKennie and Wright had good chances, and Pulisic hit the crossbar and almost scored with his head.

The USA went to the half time break with a psychological advantage - they did not win the half, but at the end they strained the opponent and did not allow them to create any clear cut chances. Southgate could have thought about changing the system - he chose the formation and lineup as for Iran, but this did not work here. It was not be difficult for England to switch to 3-4-2-1, because they often vary tactics and, as it seemed, would choose this particular formation as the main one for the first matches of the World Cup. But Southgate did not deviate from the original plan and made all replacements according to position. The common perk of the England manager is maximum caution, for which he is constantly criticized.

It was only to the advantage of the Americans that Southgate did not change anything. The USA started the second half the same way they ended the first - they attacked with no fear, including some dangerous set pieces. Pulisic even dared to score straight from the corner kick, but Pickford saved it at the end. In general, the British defended well, although the favorite is usually not praised for this. But, Maguire personally deserved the applause: he won a lot of areal duals and even completed some successful dribbling in the US penalty box.

England definitely lacked quality - for the entire second half, they took only one corner, from which, by the way, the Manchester United defender hit the target. The standard formation did not work for the British and they demonstrated their inability to overcome the United States. England played two matches, and it is difficult to understand in which game their true strength was shown.

by footballmegaminds