* As the two face each other tonight from 22h00 in Group L in which the Black Stars beat Panama 1-0 in the opening match
* We know how England play; they have excellent players; they have the experience of their Premier League; they have intensity but we know how we can control this
Maravi Express
Ghana’s head coach Carlos Queiroz brushed off England’s favouritism, his own painful 2-6 loss to them when he was mentoring Iran in 2022 and a four-decade pedigree gap, telling reporters in Foxboro that the Black Stars would into their match against The Three Lions with “33 million lions” of their own.
At a prematch press room at Boston Stadium on Monday afternoon, Queiroz was in the form of a man enjoying himself despite being hours away from one of the biggest matches of his long managerial life.
The 73-year-old Portuguese’s resume include coaching his own country’s national team, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Iran, Colombia, Egypt, Qatar and Oman, leading South Africa (2002), Portugal (2010) and Iran (2014, 2018, 2022) to the FIFA World Cup™.
“We know how England play; they have excellent players; they have the experience of their Premier League; they have intensity but we know how we can control this.
“We know they have three lions but we have 33 million lions,” said the Portuguese in reference to England’s nickname ‘The Three Lions’, who are the 4th-ranked team in the world.
Queiroz is relishing the opportunity of meeting the best players in the world: “We have a great match in front of us,” he told the media. “This is what we are looking for all our lives, to be in the right environment and at the right time and to play against the best players in the world.”
The maths of Group L sharpens the moment as both Ghana and England are on three points each, separated by goal difference after lat Wednesday’s opening round when coach Thomas Tuchel’s side eased past Croatia 4-2 while Ghana ground out a 1-0 victory over Panama courtesy of Caleb Yirenkyi’s 95th-minute winner.
A win for either nation tonight all but guarantees passage to the Round of 32 with a fixture to spare and likely settles the question of who tops the group.
“This is simple,” said Queiroz. “We are in this competition for points. It is to get the points in order to qualify — that is the most important thing for us.”
Remarkably, this will only be the second meeting between the two nations at senior level, the first encounter being a 1-1 friendly draw at Wembley in March 2011, when Andy Carroll opened the scoring just before half-time and Asamoah Gyan equalised in the 90th minute in front of an 80,000-strong crowd.
The friendly at Wembley in which Carroll scored first before the reply from Gyan
In Foxboro tonight will be the first competitive meeting between the Black Stars and the Three Lions, and Queiroz refused to be drawn into using either that night at Wembley or his more painful subsequent history against England as a guide to anything.
The Portuguese trainer’s heaviest defeat as a World Cup head coach came against England in Qatar 2022, when his Iran side were beaten 6-2 in their group-stage opener.
Asked about it at the press conference, he waved it away with a smile, saying: “In football, four years is like a century, so I don’t even remember where that was.
“I was not defeated. In football, we never lose — we win or we learn. We learned a couple of lessons that day,” he emphasised and there was a more pointed message tucked inside the philosophy:
“The reputations and prestige of results in the past are significant when they are written in the press, but they cannot win games. Memories don’t win games, so tomorrow will be another story.”
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England, of course, have plenty of present-tense pedigree to back up the headline numbers. They remain unbeaten in eight previous World Cup matches against African opposition (5W, 3D).
Harry Kane, on the other hand, sits just one goal away from passing Gary Lineker as the country’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament.
But Thomas Tuchel’s side conceded twice to Croatia in the opener and were carved open more than once, and Queiroz, who has studied their full opening match in fine detail, believes there are angles to attack.
“This is the easiest type of match, because when you’re about to play against England, France of Germany, you don’t need to say anything to the players — they’re fully motivated enough.
“What we have to do in this type of game is to try and moderate the enthusiasm, but mainly we need to do work together. This is the most important thing tomorrow. Whatever happens, we need to stick together and fight together over 90 full minutes.
“We know England have their strong points but we have our own qualities. We need to be in the game for 90 minutes at full throttle.”
Thomas Partey
On personnel, the Black Stars are set to welcome back their most influential midfielder, Thomas Partet, who was denied entry to Canada for the Panama opener and has since trained fully in Smithfield since the squad crossed back into the United States and is expected to be recalled to the starting XI.
The other selection question hovers over goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who has been working back from a groin injury picked up against Panama — and coach Queiroz confirmed a final call would be made after yesterday evening’s session, with Benjamin Asare on standby to make his maiden World Cup start.
Ati-Zigi during the 1-0 triumph over Panama
Queiroz signed off with the kind of line his players, and a country counting down to kickoff, will want to hear: “Trust me, huge entertainment on the pitch. We belong to the entertainment business. We are going to fight, play and enjoy. I guarantee you the match will be in the memories and hearts of people when it finishes.”—Reporting by Flashscore News; editing by Maravi Express
Group stage results
Group A
Mexico 2-0 South Africa
South Korea 2-1 Czechia
Czech Republic 1-2 South Africa
Mexico 1-0 South Korea
Group B
Canada 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Qatar 1-1 Switzerland
Switzerland 4-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Canada 6-0 Qatar
Group C
Brazil 1-1 Morocco
Haiti 0-1 Scotland
Scotland 0-1 Morocco
Brazil 3-0 Haiti
Group D
USA 4-1 Paraguay
Australia 2-0 Turkiye
USA 2-1 Australia
Turkiye 0-1 Paraguay
Group E
Côte d’Ivoire 1-0 Ecuador
Germany 7-1 Curaçao
Germany 2-1 Côte d’Ivoire
Ecuador 0-0 Curaçao
Group F
Netherlands 2-2 Japan
Sweden 5-1 Tunisia
Tunisia 0-4 Japan
Netherlands 5-1 Sweden
Group G
Belgium 1-1 Egypt
Iran 2-2 New Zealand
Beligium 0-0
New Zealand 1-3
Group H
Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia 1-1 Uruguay
Uruguay 2-2 Cape Verde
Spain 4-0 Saudi Arabia
Group I
France 3-1 Senegal
Iraq 1-4 Norway
Norway 3-2 Senegal
France 3-0 Iraq
Group J
Argentina 3-0 Algeria
Austria 3-1 Jordan
Argentina 2-0 Austria
Jordan 1-2 Tunisia
Group K
Portugal 1-1 DR Congo
Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia
Group L
England 4-2 Croatia
Ghana 1-0 Panama
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