World Cup result: How the USMNT came close to upsetting England in Group B clash

Fortunately for the United States, they have their World Cup fate in their own hands.

A win against Iran on Tuesday would see them overtake their opponents. If England overcome Wales in their final match, the USMNT would finish second with a win.

If England lose, they’d climb to first in Group B while England would finish second, unless they lose by a margin of more than five goals.

It was interesting to hear Gareth Southgate come out on the offensive tonight and really defend the performance of his England team.

“To be a successful team at a tournament, you have to show those different faces and we did that tonight,” Southgate said, when grilled in the post-match press conference about his team’s underwhelming performance.

“I’m sure there'll be a lot of noise about the performance. But not many teams go through World Cups and get nine points in the group.”

The former Everton and Chelsea player wants Phil Foden to feature more often for England:

Of the five FIFA confederations represented at this World Cup, CONCACAF remains the lone one yet to take a victory, scoring just one total goal in the process:

Oddly, all five of North America's matches thus far have come against European teams:

• USA 1-1 Wales
• Mexico 0-0 Poland
• Costa Rica 0-7 Spain
• Canada 0-1 Belgium
• USA 0-0 England

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The USMNT's World Cup campaign has begun the same way it did in 2010 in South Africa: with two draws, including one against England.

Every American fan remembers how the group stage ended for the USMNT in that tournament - with Landon Donovan's dramatic 91st-minute winner against Algeria.

Can the US pull out a similar result against Iran on Tuesday?

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The Daily Star have had their say, what will the New York Post go with tomorrow?

Gareth Southgate was asked about fans booing at the end of today's match: "Were we booed off though? I'm not sure if that was aimed at us. I don't know.

"Look, of course I want our fans to go home happy and our fans at home to have a smile on their faces, so we haven't quite managed to achieve that today.

"But people are going to react how they react and I can't let that affect how I feel about the team.

"The objective is to qualify. We have three games to do it and I imagine most teams in the competition will take three games to do it.

"And we have to stay calm in these moments. We've been through tournaments before and I know as a player and a coach.

"Look, I'm sure they'll be a lot of noise. This is the tournament of external noise. We've added another layer to that, I'm sure.

"But we're on track, a bit to do, we can still win the group, that's got to be our target."

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Gareth Southgate spoke to the media after the draw: "I'm really pleased with the application of the players, it was a really tough opponent, they defended incredibly well.

"To come off the high of the performance the other day and, find that same energy, level of quality was always going to be a challenge.

"To be a successful team at tournaments you've got to show those different faces and we did that tonight."

(Photo: Getty Images)

Our American readers can see the highlights from this match here:

Gareth Southgate spoke to ITV after the match about the decision to leave Phil Foden on the bench: “We thought it was the right thing to do, to keep the team from the start, and then the wide players we went with Jack (Grealish) and Marcus (Rashford) ahead of Phil (Foden) on the changes.

"We thought, Jack would keep the ball well for us and get us up the pitch, and Marcus' speed, we thought would also be a threat coming into that last part of the game."

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The plan looked clear — exploit the U.S. in the air. This was a sensible approach given the impact of Kieffer Moore for Wales in the second half of USA’s opening game. He caused Tim Ream and Zimmerman significant problems and was an outlet for Wales to play into and get further upfield.

England did their best to replicate this. Centre-backs Maguire and John Stones split wide at goal-kicks, positioned close to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but they were never used.

Instead he opted to launch the kick for distance, onto the No 9 Kane who had wingers Bukayo Saka (right winger) and Raheem Sterling (left winger) close to him, presumably the targets for knock-downs and to create quick attacks before the US defence could get organised.

It may have been logical but it was largely unsuccessful in the first half, aside from Kane winning a free-kick in the final third — he lost the aerial duels and England struggled to retain the ball consistently in the U.S. half.

For a game in which England were out of control for so long there was a lot to be said for Maguire’s performance — he played the full 90 having gone off with illness in the opening game against Iran.

Once more he showed a neat passing range, particularly looking to switch the play out to right-back Kieran Trippier with driven passes. He made a couple of crunching tackles and was comfortably England’s best defender of the box on a night in which they had to do more of that than they would have wanted or expected.

When the US had a flurry of corners in the first and second half it quickly became a case of heading practice for the 29-year-old. Maguire was one of few zonal England markers, positioned on the edge of the six yard box and routinely heading Pulisic’s corners far from England’s goal.

He made over half of England’s clearances (eight out of 15) and ranked second among his team-mates for touches (94) and passes (81).

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Considering the positivity surrounding England after their 6-2 thumping of Iran, they looked surprisingly flat in the first half against the USMNT.

That was testament to the tactics of the United States, particularly in midfield. They built out well from the back and rather than play through a congested central area, as mentioned above they used McKennie to pull wide — almost as a right midfielder — in more of a 4-4-2 than a 4-3-3 at times.

This resulted in the United States channelling 54 per cent of their attacking touches down the right hand side in the first half — among the most one-sided approaches of any first 45 minutes in the tournament.

With Dest keeping his discipline deeper in the USMNT back line, it created space for central midfielders like McKennie to receive in wide spaces and for Weah to use his pace as the advanced forward on the right.

England did not have an answer for this subtle tweak.

The U.S. is simply a different team when McKennie is playing at his best, and in the first 45 minutes against England the Juventus midfielder was effective — and thus so was the U.S.

McKennie planted himself out on the right side of the formation, spending almost the entire half as a right midfielder. And the U.S. looked to play down that side consistently, finding McKennie on the touchline as Weah lived in the channel between Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw.

McKennie, who came into the World Cup off of a quad injury, and Sergino Dest, who had played limited minutes with AC Milan before arriving in Qatar, were considered doubts for the line-up to face England. Both had picked up yellows in the first game against Wales and had fitness questions after coming out of that draw in the second half having cramped up. Both became key parts of what the U.S. was doing well against England in the first half.

McKennie had one of the best chances when he got on the end of a cross from Weah in the 26th minute. He was unmarked inside the penalty spot but put his effort over the crossbar when he should have scored. The closest U.S. chance came when Pulisic hit a left-footed shot off the crossbar, but that attack, too, started with McKennie’s solo run up the right side. It was a constant threat through Dest and McKennie.

McKennie seemed to be enjoying himself, too. In the 38th minute he leaned over the video boards to wipe his hands on the bib of a photographer before a long throw-in.

The field tilted a bit more to the left side in the second half, but McKennie and Dest were involved until they were substituted in the 77th minute. Dest, in particular, showed his ability defensively in the second half as England started to get on the ball and push more for a goal.