The England team was not the first freshness – Sport – Kommersant
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The England team lost their first points in the World Cup. After defeating the Iranians with a score of 6: 2, she could not deal with the US team. The British had a minimum of opportunities for scoring and generally looked sluggish. Not surprisingly, they failed to score and the match ended in a 0-0 draw.
The England team started the World Cup very powerfully, rolling out a fairly strong Iranian team, which then defeated Wales and confirmed its combat capability. The US national team in the opening match with the Welsh was content with only a draw, although they led the score and in some places showed very nice football. I did not dare to say that some kind of intrigue is possible in the confrontation between England and the USA. The difference seemed too obvious not only in the general class, but also in the current state of these rivals.
Yes, eight of the current American roster play in England and six of them play for Premier League clubs. And, for example, young talent Yunus Musa even played for the English junior teams before he made a choice in favor of the US national team. But is it possible to compare the American and English applications by names or by transfer value? The question is rhetorical. Of course, more than €277 million, which is exactly the amount the US national team is estimated by the Transfermarkt portal, this is not a cat crying. But the England team is worth €1.26 billion.
British head coach Gareth Southgate did not change anything after a convincing victory over Iran. His American colleague Gregg Berhalter made just one change, swapping center forward Joshua Sargent for the more powerful Hadji Wright. The English looked at the enemy for about ten minutes and seemed to just roll the ball, and then exploded, opened his left flank of the defense, from where Bukayo Saka passed the ball to Harry Kane, but the attacker’s shot was blocked by Walker Zimmerman. The central defender of the Americans, who brought a penalty in the previous match, now frankly saved.
However, after a short burst of activity, Southgate’s wards again took an operational pause. And the opponents tried to take advantage of this, and in the middle of the first half they created a very scoring chance, when Weston McKenny hit from eight meters, right in front of the goal, and launched the ball much higher than the crossbar. It seemed that this was just an episode, but after a few minutes, Christian Pulisic fired into the crossbar itself. And the British somehow hung and could not rein in the US team, which was acting more and more arrogantly, which got into the habit of going not only to someone else’s half of the field, but also to Jordan Pickford’s penalty area as if they were at home. Harry Maguire and John Stones, who were in charge of the center of the defense, worked with increased workload and took the trouble away from their goalkeeper a couple of times.
At the end of the first half, the England team nevertheless reminded who the favorite is here. Mason Mount fired into the bottom corner from mid-range, and American goalkeeper Matt Turner barely eliminated the threat. However, in general, the British before the break behaved extremely restrained. It is clear that they did not have to expect the same scoring extravaganza from them, as in the meeting with Iran. In football, it often happens when, after a super-successful match, a team has a certain emotional decline and problems with implementation. And even with all this, the British were nowhere near like themselves four days ago.
Southgate would have screwed up the game with substitutions, but he continued to hope for a starting XI. And in the second half, the Americans were already quite insolent and simply pressed the England team to the gate. One corner followed another, and there was a high probability that the quantity would finally turn into quality. By the 68th minute, Southgate still matured and made personnel adjustments. With the advent of Jack Grealish and Jordan Henderson, the British began to play more cheerfully. Then Marcus Rashford came out, but the US team brought in their reserves and balanced the balance of power. The match took place without any moments at all, and the corners were still the most interesting in it. But even when, in the end, after another set piece, the ball landed on Kane’s head, the British top scorer hit somewhere in the wrong place. So it’s a goalless draw.
Despite the loss of two points, the English team is in control of the situation in group B and, with four points, almost guaranteed itself a place in the playoffs. She still has a match with Wales, who need to perform some unthinkable feat to unhook the neighbors, because now the decisive additional indicators are difference and the number of goals, but here the English are all right. Well, for the Americans, who now have two points, everything will be decided in the battle with Iran, which scored three points.
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