Thomas Tuchel dismissed the notion that England were given a World Cup wake-up call by Ghana after Tuesday’s drab draw followed their thrill-a-minute opener against Croatia.
Last Wednesday’s 4-2 victory in Dallas was followed by a dour 0-0 stalemate at Gillette Stadium as the Euro 2024 runners-up failed to turn their dominance into another win.
England’s four-point haul means they are all but certain to progress to the knockout phase of the largest ever World Cup, but the mood has been dampened ahead of ending Group L against already eliminated Panama.
Saturday’s match takes place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where Tuchel’s side are aiming to return on July 19 for a shot at immortality.
Asked if he saw the Ghana draw as a wake-up call, the German said: “No, we don’t need a wake-up call.
“Everyone is alert and everyone is fully committed. There can be no doubt, I can assure that to everyone.
“There was no overconfidence in our game, not at all. If – if – there was anything, there was maybe in some moments a bit of overcautious (play), but we were never overconfident.
“It is what it is, but we have four points out of two matches and still a match to play. We are able to win our last match, and we will try to win it, of course.
“It’s very important that the highs don’t get too high and the lows get not too low, and today anyway is not a low. It’s just a difficult match of football, which can happen any time.”
Tuchel has repeatedly spoken about the difficulty of England’s group, which is underlined by the fact that bottom-placed Panama are higher in the FIFA rankings than Ghana.
The England boss felt restricting an opponent as dangerous as the Black Stars to a minimum meant the match was “more positive than negative”, but he knows some, including ex-striker Alan Shearer, felt it was a “reality check”.
“Six days ago (against Croatia) was also a reality, and today is a reality,” Tuchel said. “So don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Everything is a reality check.
“This is a difficult team to play against, with a lot of quality and very, very physical (players), fast on every position, ready to put bodies in, ready to defend one against one.
“Super difficult to break them down and one against ones to have to have superiority in certain spaces.
“Of course, a reality check but not one of us thought that there’s an easy match ahead of us.
“I knew what quality and physicality we will face, and I think we did a lot of stuff right that can help us (go) a long way because we were very disciplined and very cautious while we were having the ball.
“There was a lot of stuff much better than against Croatia.
“I know not the same result and not the same excitement, but it takes two to tango. How much ball possession did we have? 80 per cent? OK this is difficult because it is a very good football team on the other side.”
