FIFA World Cup 2022: Brit media unfair on brilliant USA

British tabloids on Saturday conveniently sidestepped USArsquos brilliance in Friday nightrsquos Group B fixture against England and instead termed the 00 draw boringGoals alone do not determine the quality of a football match at this highest level And USArsquos sharp defensive play combined with an effective highpress strategy didnrsquot just nullify Englandrsquos attacks but also saw them almost score against the Three Lions on more than one occasionUS skipper Adams to the foreUS skipper Tyler Adams was a workhorse throughout the 90 minutes constantly building his teamrsquos attacks and rushing back to help the defence whenever the rare occasion of an insipid England attack occurredAttacking midfielder Weston McKennie had the best chance of scoring in the night in the 26th minute when an aerial ball fell to his feet bang in front of the England goal However he only managed to volley it over and moments later the English fans comprising a majority of the 62000plus crowd began singing lsquoGod save our KingrsquoSeven minutes later USArsquos star striker Christian Pulisic nearly broke the deadlock but his powerpacked shot from the top of the box came off the crossbar even as English custodian Jordan Pickford remained a helpless spectator Now suddenly ldquoUSA USArdquo chants began reverberating across the Al Bayt StadiumThe big England missIt was largely a poor show by the Three Lions who had opened their World Cup account in style with a 62 hammering of Iran recently The only clear chance for the Englishmen came in the 46th minute when a sharp Mason Mount shot was nicely parried away by a diving US custodian Matt Turner who had a confident outing under the bar even stepping up and out of his box to get past the English forwards on one occasionBoring is definitely not a word to sum up this encounter Disappointing is And while the Americans were disappointed at not being able to finish well the English should be disappointed about not playing wellSecondhalf substitute Jack Grealish admitted the Americans were good ldquoYou shouldnrsquot underestimate USA They are a good side very energetic They have very good attackers Christian Pulisic in particular We knew it would be a difficult game and it wasrdquo he saidAlso ReadWeah looking at you to beat inform England USAHenderson still optimisticMidfielder Jordan Henderson also a secondhalf substitute couldnrsquot agree more ldquoWe are disappointed We couldrsquove created more chances and probably scored but the fact that we defended well and kept a clean sheet is always important So itrsquos not doom and gloom overallrdquo he said England coach Gareth Southgate couldnrsquot digest the fact his team were booed after the game ldquoIrsquom sure there will be a lot of noise This is the tournament of external noise but wersquore on track and can still win the group Thatrsquos our targetrdquo he said England look to prepare for their final group game against Wales on Wednesday Nov 30 where a defeat could prematurely and embarrassingly end their World Cup given that Iran three points and USA two points are in promising positions USA coach Gregg Berhalter was visibly ldquopleased with his teamrsquos performancerdquo and rightly felt that ldquothe final product could be betterrdquo