England hopes to continue where they left off when facing the United States in their second Group B encounter at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al-Khor on Friday evening.
The Three Lions come into this encounter high in confidence after they hammered Iran 6-2. It was a strong attacking showing which saw Bukayo Saka bag a brace while there were goals from Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish too.
United States, meanwhile, got their World Cup off to a slow start after they played out to a 1-1 draw against Wales. Timothy Weah’s 36th-minute opener was cancelled out by a late penalty from Gareth Bale but the US team will be left scratching their heads following a below par performance.
England coach Gareth Southgate was delighted with his opening match result.
“We’re really pleased to start the tournament in this way and really pleased with our attacking play,” he said. “We know that Iran are difficult to score goals against so it’s a credit to our players of the movement, the quality of our passing and finishing.
“At the end of the game, to concede two goals the way we did is not the level we need. We need to be better than we were today against the USA because they will be coming for us full throttle. We will have to reset.
“I don’t like games that drift and there were so many added minutes in both halves. I understand games drift, but that won’t be enough for us to progress. We still have a lot to do to qualify.”
The two teams had previously met twice in the World Cup, with the United States clinching a narrow 1–0 back in 1950, while the other match ended in a 1–1 draw in 2010.
Arsenal’s Saka will look to continue his form for England at the World Cup after he bagged a brace in their opening encounter against Iran.
USA captain Christian Pulisic, a London derby rival of Saka, will be looking to get off the mark in the tournament after he registered an assist to set up Timothy Weah for the opening goal against Wales.
England’s World Cup Form:
W
United State’s World Cup Form:
D