England are bidding to secure their place in the World Cup knockout rounds as they continue their campaign with a clash against Ghana in Boston.
A 4-2 win over Croatia represented an excellent start to England’s tournament, with Thomas Tuchel’s side in fine attacking touch and playing with a vibrancy that suggests real promise as they target World Cup glory. Tuchel is likely to keep changes minimal after such a strong showing, and may not risk Bukayo Saka again as the Arsenal winger continues to manage the achilles injury that has disrupted his training at this tournament. Their progression as table-toppers would be all but secure with victory here.
Ghana will pose a different threat to Croatia with Antoine Semenyo an obvious individual that Tuchel will be plotting to stop. The Manchester City forward has the capacity to challenge a backline that perhaps came out less in credit from England’s opener, while Thomas Partey is also set to feature – the Ghana midfielder missed their opening win over Panama having been denied entry to Canada while facing a rape charge.
Follow all of the latest ahead of the World Cup clash with our live blog below:
England vs Africa
England are unbeaten against African teams at the World Cup – in their eight matches, they have won five and drawn three.
This match will also represent England’s eighth different African opponent at the World Cup (after Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal), more than any other nation.
A first meeting
England and Ghana are facing each other at the World Cup for the first time.
Their only previous encounter came in a March 2011 friendly at Wembley with the game ending 1-1, after goals from Andy Carroll and Asamoah Gyan.
Can England improve on that tonight and secure a place in the knockout rounds?
O’Reilly’s special tattoo
Nico O’Reilly is considering getting a World Cup tattoo if he can help England to glory in the United States.
Barry’s not banal
Thomas Tuchel has vowed to let Anthony Barry to carry on doing half-time interviews with broadcasters after his explosive words at the break in the win over Croatia – and said he will be “so happy” if his assistant keeps speaking his mind.
Tuchel was relaxed about Barry’s blunt analysis and said the 40-year-old had been on the receiving end of a few comments inside the England camp after he suddenly acquired a higher profile.
Early Ghana team news
Thomas Partey will feature for Ghana having missed their opening game due to being refused entry to Canada. He was denied a visa to enter Canada after being charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, all of which he denies, but has been granted entry into the US.
First-choice keeper Lawrence Ati Zigi was removed at half-time due to a knock and is unlikely to start.
A multinational team of officials
Referee: Said Martinez (Honduras)
Assistant Referee: Walter Lopez (Honduras)
Assistant Referee: Christian Ramirez (Honduras)
Fourth Official: Ning Ma (China)
Video Assistant Referee (VAR): Guillermo Pacheco (Mexico)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Fei Zhou (China)
Tonight’s referee
The 34-year-old is making his tournament debut and history for Honduras as the first official from the nation to referee at a World Cup having served as an assistant four years ago.
“Looking back, it’s something I never imagined, it never even crossed my mind… I never thought I’d be an international referee, a World Cup referee,” Martinez said in an interview for Honduran outlet Diario Diez ahead of the tournament.
