England and the United States of America played out a 0-0 draw at the Al Bayt Stadium.
Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw both started for Gareth Southgate’s side as they aimed to make it two wins from two to start their World Cup campaign off in fine fashion.
However, that was not the case as England were left frustrated with how well the American’s played as they defended well as a unit and such was their defensive resolve, they only managed to restrict England to just three shots on target.
England did not help themselves as they failed to match the intensity and energy that the USA team brought to the game and as a result the Three Lions were slow on the ball and did not show any real urgency to make things happen.
USA arguably had the two best chances of the game when Christain Pulisic struck the crossbar that had Jordan Pickford scrambling across his goal to prevent it from going in and Weston McKennie also had a shot at goal that he should have scored from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa83TuVmIGY
Mason Mount forced a good save from Arsenal’s Matt Turner in stoppage time of the first-half and Harry Kane struck a late header wide that could have made the American’s nervous but other than that England did not create much.
Harry Maguire won his 50th cap for his country and it can be argued that he was one of England’s better players on the pitch and it is vindication that Southgate has made the right decision in selecting him in his starting XI.
Disappointed not to get the win tonight but still a huge honour to make my 50th @England cap. Some amazing memories along the way and hopefully many more to come. Thanks to my family, staff, teammates and fans for all your support. ❤️🏴🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/bIUHsvdkcL
— Harry Maguire (@HarryMaguire93) November 25, 2022
The rating site Fotmob gave the United skipper a rating of 7.5 as he made eight clearances, five recoveries and his passing was effective as well as he had a passing accuracy of 88% [Fotmob].
Maguire’s United team-mate, Luke Shaw also performed well as he was awarded a rating of 7.8 by Fotmob. Shaw provided a useful option for England when defending and attacking as he created two chances and won 3 out of his 5 ground duels defensively [Fotmob].
United’s number 10 Marcus Rashford came on in the second half, however, with England needing more urgency and penetration to cause the USA a different problem because watching the game, it felt like Rashford should have came on sooner as England were crying out for something different, which Rashford with his pace and direct runs could have stretched the USA defence.
A clean sheet and more minutes for our #ThreeLions against the USA 🦁🦁🦁#MUFC || #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/v7a0iVWRuu
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 25, 2022
Next up for England and the United trio is a clash against Wales, whilst for Gregg Berhalter’s side, it is a clash against the impressive Iran, who defeated Wales 2-0 in the earlier game.