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Art & illustrations

England Took 19 Shots. Ghana's Wall Took One. The Scoreboard Didn't Move.

England 0, Ghana 0. Kane skied an 8-yard rebound. Asare built a wall. Ghana closer to knockouts than England. The scoreboard at Boston didn't move.

2 min readChickenpie
Behind the artwork ↓
Chickenpie illustration: packed Boston Stadium at night under floodlights, a tiny anonymous footballer in a white jersey stands center pitch with hands on hips in frustration. Scoreboard reads ENG 0 - 0 GHA. A tiny goalkeeper in green kit raises a gloved fist in celebration. Mr. Chicken in the lower-left corner wearing a small Ghana scarf and a tiny England rosette, arms crossed in mock disbelief.
FROM THE SKETCHBOOK
BEHIND THE ARTWORK
At a glance
CategoryArt & illustrations
PublishedJun 24, 2026
Read time2 min
Covered here
  • Football
  • World Cup
  • Sports

England had 19 shots. Ghana had 1. England had 60 percent of the ball, then 70, then most of the night. England spent the second half knocking on the door of a five-man wall that didn't move. The scoreboard at the end read ENG 0 - 0 GHA. It was the kind of scoreline that tells you who built a fortress and who tried to walk through it.

The moment came in the 86th minute. Nico O'Reilly — on as a sub, head full of fresh legs — got above everyone in the box and headed the ball against the crossbar. The rebound fell eight yards from goal, on a plate, in the path of Harry Kane. Kane is the man who won the Golden Boot in 2018. He is the captain. He is the answer to most of England's biggest questions. From eight yards, he volleyed over the bar. The stadium groaned. Ghana's bench celebrated like it had won the World Cup. Same thing, in that moment.

Behind the wall, there was a goalkeeper. Benjamin Asare — almost unknown outside Ghana before Tuesday night — kept the clean sheet with the kind of night that turns a career. Ghana's Carlos Queiroz, on his fifth World Cup as a coach, set his team up in a 5-4-1 and dared England to break it down. England couldn't. Not for ninety minutes. Not with Kane, Bellingham, Saka, Rashford, Gordon, all of them, all of the bench. The wall held.

We couldn't quite break them down, even with all corners, all the possession, all the shots on goal from distance. — Jude Bellingham

Thomas Tuchel walked into the press conference and said the same thing everyone in England had been thinking: not overconfident, maybe a little overcautious. The opening 4-2 win over Croatia had looked like the start of something. Tuesday night looked like the start of a question. England still need a result against Panama to be sure of topping Group L. Ghana, after their 1-0 win over Panama and now this draw, are closer to the knockouts than England are. Both teams on four points. The Black Stars haven't reached the knockout stage of a World Cup since 2010, when they made the quarterfinals. Sixteen years.

Daily art caricature by Chickenpie — World Cup 2026.

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