#soccer analysis

england 0-0 ghana, world cup 2026

📍 Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts

england starting xi: J. Pickford (1), R. James (24), E. Konsa (2), M. Guéhi (6), D. Spence (25), E. Anderson (8), D. Rice (4), N. Madueke (20), J. Bellingham (10), A. Gordon (18), H. Kane (9)

substituions: N. O'Rielly (3) for D. Spence 66', Bukayo Saka (7) for Anthony Gordon 66', M. Rogers (17) for J. Bellingham 73', E. Eze (21) for E. Anderson (8) 74', M. Rashford (11) for N. Madueke 83'

ghana starting xi: B. Asare (16), C. Yirenkyi (3), M. Senaya (26), J. Adjetey (4), J. Opoku (18), G. Mensah (14), A. Semenyo (11), K. Sibo (8), T. Partey (5), J. Ayew (9), I. Williams (19)

substituions: A. Fatawu (7) for I. Williams 66', P.K. Adu (25) for J. Ayew 66', K. Peprah Oppong (21) for M. Senaya 87'

england (1-0-0) make 2 changes to their starting xi, with marc guéhi and djed spence making their first world cup starts. harry kane enters the match with ten world cup goals, on par with gary lineker for the most ever for the three lions.

ghana (1-0-0) make 4 changes, switching to a more-defensive 5-4-1, as benjamin asare, iñaki williams, kwasi sibo, and thomas partey come into the side.

the points are split between the two teams in only their second meeting ever (prev. 1-1, 2011). the match began with england, as expected, heavily in posession in ghana's defensive third, though the opening minutes were scrappy. england utilized their wide players heavily (anthony gordon, noni madueke, reece james especially) to make runs and cross into the box. virtually all their attacks came down the wings. the many pauses in the first half (due to fouls, injury, and hydration) seemed to disrupt england's rhythm, allowing ghana to grow into the match. ghana's compact defense (at times, all 11 men were back in their defensive third) was hard to break down, and england struggled with finding outlets. every time an english player had the ball in the box, three-four ghanaian players were suddenly upon them. ghana's main attacks came through speedy forward antoine semenyo and they found success with long passes down the center of the pitch. though the momentum largely stayed with england, ghana also had a few good looks (though they couldn't capitalize). late on, england had chance after chance - o'rielly unlucky not to have scored this world cup, but kane (reminiscent of 2022) skied a shot from six yards out, and guéhi had a header cleared off the line.

overall, a very physical end-to-end game, though not a particularly interesting game; very one-sided with england crossing the ball into ghana's box over and over again, and not many shots on target. ghana's tall defense stayed disciplined and stood strong against a barrage of english attacks. england have struggled to take apart low defensive blocks, and this time is no different. the goalies this match had very little to do, considering the sheer offensive pressure throughout the match. though the stats appear heavily skewed in england's favor (19 shots/3 sog vs 1 shot/0 sog), ghana was not lacking in chances they had. neither side could score in a final stalemate.

seeing how croatia v panama goes, england and ghana may compete to top group L next saturday, june 27, with england v panama and ghana v croatia.

Müller is out of position. He needs to play behind a forward because he makes space for others and can make plays for all the players around.

Khedira and Özil have been useless. They're not being creative and making dynamic decisions to make something happen

Boateng seems to be lost, and as a defender, that's insanely crucial he's absolutely awake

Werner made an idiotic decision trying to go for it on his own instead of laying it off for draxler, that would've been a goal. I blame that on inexperience.

They need to play a 4-4-1-1 in order to break down Mexico's "park the bus" tactic

norway 1-4 france, world cup 2026

📍Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts

norway starting xi: E. Selvik (13), F. Aursnes (14), H. Falchener (25), L. Østigård (4), F. Bjørkan (15), K. Thorstvedt (18), P. Berg (6), T. Aasgaard (19), O. Bobb (22), J. Strand Larsen (11), A. Schjelderup (21)

substitutions: M. Thorsby (2) for K. Thorstvedt 46'; M. Pedersen (16) for F. Bjørkan 46'; S. Langås (24) for H. Falchener 67'; J. Hauge (23) for O. Bobb 83'; A. Nusa (20) for A. Schjelderup 83'

france starting xi: M. Maignan (16), J. Koundé (5), D. Upamecano (4), M. Lacroix (26), T. Hernández (19), A. Tchouaméni (8), M. Koné (6), O. Dembélé (7), M. Olise (11), D. Doué (20), K. Mbappé (10)

substituions: R. Cherki (24) for M. Olise 65'; B. Barcola (12) for O. Dembélé 65'; I. Konaté (15) for D. Upamecano 76'; M. Gusto (2) for J. Koundé 87'; J.P. Mateta (22) for K. Mbappe 87'

norway (2-0-0) and france (2-0-0) both enter this match undefeated and are guaranteed to be the top two teams from group i moving on to the round of 32. this match proved to be the decider in which nation topped the group.

16th meeting, prev: france 7w-4t-4l

in what was supposed to be one of the matchups of the group stages, with two of the world's best players - erling braut haaland for norway and kylian mbappe for france - solbakken, norway's head coach, opted to rest haaland in an unpopular decision among fans.

france, aftering applying large pressure for the opening minutes, struck early in the seventh minute, with dembélé all-too-easily getting between the norwegian defense and tucking the ball into the far side netting. the momentum lay heavily in the hands of the french, and were frankly unlucky to not have scored more in just the opening 15 minutes (selvik also made a few nice saves). strand larsen missed a golden opportunity to equalize for norway in the fourteenth minute, skying a volley after a wonderful touch. before norway could register a foothold on the match, dembélé struck gold again, this time centrally from outside the box. astoundingly, the replays of dembélé's second goal had barely ended before norway managed to get one back, not even a minute later, with rangers midfielder aasgaard wrongfooting maignan after a nice move. dembélé scored his third of the match and his first world cup hattrick in just 25 minutes with thirty-two on the clock, a brilliant showing for the parisian. a very eventful half drew to at end at 3:1, france.

norway switched to a 4-1-2-3 in the second half, perhaps hoping to spark some more offense, which happened almost instantaneously as fulham youngster oscar bobb drew a penalty in the forty-eighth minute with some tekky footwork. strand larsen fluffed his lines as his overtly-nonchalant penalty was quite easily parried aside by maignan (at this point even i was wondering why he was still on the field. just not his day). the second half was calmer, though chances for both teams were still abundant. errors from france almost saw norway pull one or two back; ultimately they couldn't capitalize. doué scores in added time to add to norway's pains.

honestly, it was bewildering to see that solbakken had opted to rest some of norway's star players in favor of a less-experienced 'second' team-esque lineup. it was as if he had already given up, and resigned to a second place finish, instead of fighting for first. some news sources even called him out as "pathetic" for resting haaland. strand-larsen felt like a huge letoff compared to haaland, his speed and strength proving not sufficient against the strong french defense. solbakken's formation and tactics, which at times looked more like a 5-4-1 than a 4-3-3, allowed france far too much time and space on the ball. norway grew into the game had a few good sequences down the left, but largely felt nonthreatening. aasgaard, with his goal, enjoyed a nice game in his world cup debut.

france, competitive and impressive as usual, overloaded the right side of the pitch, which left mbappe (and doué) in much more space down the left wing. even as such and with the whole french team feeding mbappe, he struggled to have much of an effect on the game. france pressed deep into norway's defense and always managed to have a man open. the players felt more in-sync, and though they probably could've scored more, should be happy with their performance against their strongest group opponents.

with this result, france finish top of group i undefeated, while norway qualify second. in the round of 32, france will face sweden (group f's third place team) and norway will play ivory coast (group e's runner up), both on june 30th. an expected result, perhaps an unexpected scoreline.

An in-depth analysis of Canada’s attacking approach in their win over Suriname, focusing on movement, positioning, and tactical decisions that led to victory.

Canada faced Suriname in the first leg of their 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series, held in Suriname. The return leg is set to take place in Canada on November 19, 2024. In this two-legged tie, Canada emerged victorious in the first leg with a narrow 1-0 win, courtesy of substitute Junior Hoilett’s 81st-minute goal, assisted by their talisman, Jonathan David. The Canadians had…

I really liked Gary Neville’s and Jamie Carragher’s analysis here. Carra has some of the same commentary I had with Neville also adding in that it could be a problem with how Liverpool itself is managed. I want to see this get managed better. This is abysmal. Sterling is two years younger than me.