The feel good factor turned to frustration in the space of six days.
Thomas Tuchel looked on from the bench as England blew a great chance to stamp their authority all over the World Cup and start planning their route in the knock-out stages.
Instead, England were sloppy, wasteful and frustrating as Ghana thwarted Tuchel’s men in a dull, numbingly painful performance in the Gillette Stadium.
England have suffered from second game syndrome in their last three major tournaments and, after the euphoria of their opening win over Croatia, they were desperate not to slip into bad habits.
In Qatar at the last World Cup, England battered Iran 6-2 only to be held by the United States next time out.
They beat Croatia in the Euros in 2021 only to be held by Scotland while they beat Serbia in Euro 2024 only to draw against Denmark in their second game.
Not since the World Cup in 2018 – when they beat Tunisia and then Panama – have they won their opening two games. And you have to go all the way back to 2006 for the previous time.
Harry Kane reminded the players in a team meeting this week about the importance of maintaining standards and momentum.
Tuchel likes to keep everyone guessing on his starting XI and he did spring a surprise by bringing in Marc Guehi and Djed Spence for John Stones and Nico O’Reilly respectively.
Spence immediately caught the eye by appearing to snub Thomas Partey’s handshake as Ghana’s ex-Arsenal midfielder because he is due to stand trial next year after pleading not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault between 2020 and 2022.
England looked sluggish from the start. They were so dynamic and exciting in the second half against Croatia and yet so underwhelming and lacking in ideas in the first half against Ghana.
Declan Rice tried to break through. Harry Kane barely got a kick. Anthony Gordon ran down blind alleys. Jude Bellingham was crowded out. England did not the ball fast enough.
By half time, armchair viewers were waiting for England assistant coach Anthony Barry to give his brutal verdict on the half time TV interview. Sadly, even that was underwhelming. He just pleaded for patience and claimed it was an “OK half.” Hardly.
View 2 ImagesDeclan Rice reacts to England’s draw with Ghana(Image: Getty Images)
Ghana offered little but Gordon lost track of Ghana’s Marvin Senaya and Djed Spence showed great awareness to snuff out the danger.
England did not manage a shot on target until the 57th minute. First, Madueke saw his shot blocked and then Gordon’s shot from the rebound was comfortably saved by Ghana keeper Benjamin Asare.
Finally Tuchel rolled the dice and brought on Bukayo Saka as England looked to the bench for some much needed inspiration – but still found little.
As they pushed Ghana back, they did leave spaces behind and that allowed substitute Prince Adu to burst through and a real heart in mouth moment followed.
Jordan Pickford raced off his line, at first glance it looked like the England keeper scythed down Adu on the edge of the box but actually video replays showed the foul was the other way.
The England fans in the Gillett Stadium must have hoped that would be the wake-up call they needed – but it still did not arrive.
On came Eberechi Eze and Morgan Rogers as England looked to spice things up in the closing stages.
England got really lucky late on when Adu escaped through again, Ezri Konsa threw himself into a tackle and did not get anywhere near the ball.
Saka went close with a late shot which forced a fine save before Nico O’Reilly headed against the crossbar before Kane slashed over. That just about summed it all up.
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