Why England’s Forwards Have Gone Quiet Just as the World Cup Knockouts Arrive

Harry Kane does not miss the chances he missed against Ghana. He has built a career, and a reputation as one of the most reliable finishers of his generation, on the certainty that when the ball drops to him six yards out, it ends up in the net. On Tuesday night in Foxborough, with England pressing for the goal that would have settled their group, it did not. Thomas Tuchel said so himself afterwards, in the flat tone of a man who already knew what everyone watching was thinking.

“He had one chance that he never misses and he missed it today,” Tuchel admitted, as reported by Sky Sports.

England drew 0-0 with Ghana, a result that kept them top of Group L on four points but raised an awkward question as the knockout rounds approach. For all their possession, all their territory, all their shots, this England team is finding it strange and difficult to score. After the noise and promise of a 4-2 opening win over Croatia, the silence against Ghana felt like a warning. With one group game left against Panama on Saturday and a place in the Round of 32 all but secured, the issue facing Tuchel is no longer qualification. It is goals, and where the next ones are going to come from.

Nineteen shots, no reward

The numbers from the Ghana game tell a story of dominance that produced nothing. England had nineteen shots to Ghana’s two. They had the lion’s share of possession, a steady supply of crosses, and a clutch of set pieces in dangerous areas. Nico O’Reilly came closest, rattling the bar with a late header. And yet they could not beat Benjamin Asare, the Ghana goalkeeper who plays his club football in the Ghana Premier League and who produced the game of his life.

Tuchel’s own assessment was that the chances were there and the execution was not. “We had enough shots, we had enough crosses, we had enough set pieces to score the first goal. We had a big chance with Harry,” he said. That is true, but it only goes so far. A team that creates a big chance and a procession of half-chances, then fails to take any of them, has a finishing problem, a creativity problem, or both. England, on the evidence of two games, may have a little of each.

Paul Merson, writing for Sky Sports, called the draw “a reality check” and urged supporters to trust the manager. That is the sensible long view. The short view is that England have now gone a full match without scoring against a side ranked well below them, and the teams waiting in the knockout rounds will not be as generous in front of their own goal as England were in front of Ghana’s.

The Kane question Tuchel refuses to accept

The most revealing exchange after the Ghana game came when Tuchel was asked whether England rely too heavily on Kane for their goals. His answer was sharp, and it doubled as a defence of his whole approach.

“I mean, does Argentina rely too heavily on Messi and France rely too heavily on Mbappe?” Tuchel said. “They are world class players and they do normally what they do, so everyone is pushing and we had three different goalscorers in the first match. We rely on Harry because we can, because he’s our forward but we don’t over rely on him.”

There is logic in that. Kane is the best striker England have produced in decades, the national team’s record scorer, and a forward who has spent the past two seasons rewriting Bayern Munich’s record books. Building your attack around him is not a flaw. The point about three different scorers against Croatia is fair too. The worry is what happens on the nights when Kane is quiet and the supporting cast cannot pick up the slack, which is precisely what unfolded against Ghana.

Tuchel’s deeper challenge is that he has gone into this tournament without two of the most creative English forwards of the past two years. Cole Palmer, who scored in the Euro 2024 final, was left out of the squad after a difficult club season. Phil Foden, England’s standout in that same tournament, missed the cut after his own dip in form at Manchester City. Whatever the merits of those calls, and Tuchel has defended them firmly, they removed two players capable of conjuring a goal from nothing. Against a packed Ghana defence, that kind of improvisation was exactly what England lacked.

A system still searching for its spark

England’s shape under Tuchel is built on control. They dominate the ball, push their full-backs high, and try to suffocate opponents into mistakes. Against Croatia, with space to attack and a game that opened up, it produced four goals and a thrilling night. Against Ghana, who sat deep, stayed compact and defended their box with discipline and bravery, the same approach turned sterile. Possession became an end in itself rather than a route to the goal.

This is the oldest puzzle in tournament football. The best sides are the ones who can break down a low block, who have the patience to keep probing and the cutting edge to punish the one moment a defender switches off. England have the patience. The cutting edge is the part that looked dull on Tuesday. Eberechi Eze, who was released by six clubs as a teenager before becoming England’s number ten, has the invention to unlock stubborn defences, and Jude Bellingham carries the kind of late-arriving threat from midfield that wins these games. Tuchel will be hoping that a kinder run of fixtures, and a little more luck in front of goal, lets that quality breathe.

There is also the matter of the route. As things stand, topping Group L would send England into a Round of 32 tie on July 1 against one of the better third-placed sides, with the bracket then opening towards potential meetings with the tournament’s heavyweights later on. Finishing second would set up a different path entirely. Tuchel must weigh whether to rotate against Panama, protecting legs and avoiding suspensions, or to keep his strongest side on the pitch in search of the rhythm and the goals that have gone missing.

The depth that should ease the worry

For all the hand-wringing, England are not short of options, and that is the strongest argument against panic. Tuchel can call on a forward line that, even without Palmer and Foden, contains genuine match-winners. Saka carried England’s cruellest penalty miss from the past to this tournament and has arrived looking like a man at peace with it. Marcus Rashford reinvented himself in Spain after being frozen out at Manchester United and offers pace in behind that Ghana were never asked to deal with. Morgan Rogers, who took three loan spells to reach this level, brings the kind of direct running that unsettles deep defences. The raw material to fix the problem is sitting in the squad.

There is a tactical lever, too. Against a low block, the team that scores first changes everything, because it forces the opponent out of its shell and creates the spaces England crave. A set-piece goal, a deflection, a penalty, any opener at all against Ghana would likely have unlocked the floodgates. That is the fine margin Tuchel is working with. His job over the coming days is to find the routine that turns nineteen shots into two or three goals, whether that means sharper movement in the box, quicker ball circulation, or simply backing his best players to rediscover their edge in front of goal.

Why a flat night carries weight

England have arrived at major tournaments before with a reputation for control and a quiet anxiety about where the goals will come from. The 2018 World Cup run leaned heavily on set pieces. The two European Championship finals that followed were defined as much by caution as by adventure. Sixty years have passed since England last won a World Cup, and every campaign since has eventually run into the same wall, a moment when the team needed a goal and could not find one.

Tuchel, the first German to manage England, was hired precisely to break that pattern, to bring tactical clarity and a winner’s edge to a group of talented players who have fallen short. The Ghana draw is not a crisis. England are top of their group and on course for the knockouts. But it is a reminder that talent and possession do not guarantee goals, and that the margins in knockout football are unforgiving. One missed chance from Kane against Ghana cost two points. The same miss in the Round of 32 could cost a tournament.

The good news for England is that the diagnosis is clear and the fix is within reach. The chances are being created. The territory is being won. What is missing is the finish, the killer pass, the moment of belief in the final third. Tuchel has a forward who has scored more goals for his country than anyone in history, a number ten who thrives on exactly this kind of challenge, and a squad with enough depth to change a game from the bench. The pieces are there. Against Ghana they did not click. Against whoever comes next, they will have to. England’s summer, and a manager’s mission to end six decades of hurt, now turns on the simplest and hardest thing in the sport: putting the ball in the net.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

More articles by Jarrod →