England 0 Ghana 0
Wednesday 24 June 2026
England impressively managed to turn back the clock and look like their usual laboured selves when confronted by a team defending for their lives.
A dour draw in Boston later and the gloom merchants came crawling out of the woodwork.
Only a few days ago England were world beaters after beating Croatia. Now we’re subjected to endless debates about whether Thomas Tuchel should have taken Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White, or perhaps all three.
Football never changes.
In the grand scheme of things, England should still win the group.
Panama are hardly Brazil circa 1970.
Beat them comfortably, Harry Kane bags a couple, and most of this hand-wringing will be forgotten by tea time.
As numerous pundits have pointed out, Argentina lost a group game before winning the World Cup. France drew one.
The tournament is rarely won in the first week.
The desperation for England to finally win something again simply magnifies every result.
The BBC, meanwhile, made a predictable hash of the coverage.
Joe Hart appeared dressed for a country club lunch and looked only a cravat and a pair of socks decorated with anchors away from completing the ensemble. And don’t get me started on Micah Richard’s odd looking top.
I was convinced Mark Chapman would get the main hosting role, but radio duties called. Of which he remains number one for England duty.
Instead, Gabby Logan took charge.
To be fair, she’s an excellent presenter. Calm, professional and completely at ease.
The problem isn’t Gabby Logan.
The problem is that the BBC no longer seems to know who its number one presenter actually is.
For major tournaments, familiarity matters.
The coverage consequently feels a little disjointed.
A bizarre pitch-side interview with Stormzy, included because of his Ghanaian heritage, added very little and merely highlighted how directionless the programme sometimes feels.
They’re missing Gary Lineker more than they would ever admit.
After the match, the BBC attempted to become Sky Sports.
Everyone stood around a giant touchscreen while various arrows, graphics and tactical observations were wheeled out.
I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that there are only two real benefits to endless football analysis:
a) it gives me something to moan about.
b) it gives me something to write about.
Analysis itself is often overrated.
Talking about how to do something has always been considerably easier than actually doing it.
Which is why television channels can spend an hour explaining why England failed to score against Ghana while England themselves spend ninety minutes discovering just how difficult that task actually is.
Still, broadcasters have a lot of airtime to fill.
And pundits need something to do.
WORLD CUP LOG #4
Manchester, England
The Listening Log 