The response to the England vs USA game is unanimous: boring!
The World Cup match between England and USA ended 0-0 and the game itself was as boring as the results suggest, even to the fans in attendance.
I am currently staying at my folks’ house in Texas for the holidays and yesterday, as the USA played England on the world’s biggest stage, my father was lulled to sleep quite peacefully by the game most fans are unanimously calling BOOOOORING. Now imagine you’d gone all the way to Qatar and spent thousands to watch your nation play in the World Cup, only to have to suffer through a 0-0 draw.
“I thought England were very slow,” said an English fan after the game. “I thought they were very static. They didn’t show a lot of skill up front, so it’s a bit disappointing really.”
For an American, a draw is already something we simply aren’t used to. In fact, we typically call it a tie and we don’t have them often and we most definitely do not like them. As Ted Lasso said, “Back where I’m from, you try to end a game in a tie, well that might as well be the first sign of the apocalypse”, and perhaps even more fitting, “If God wanted games to end in a tie, She wouldn’t have invented numbers.” A 0-0 tie, even worse.
Soccer vs Football
The great soccer vs football debate was in full swing as the Americans and English took each other on in the sport and although the Americans didn’t actually win, a draw was good enough for them to feel as if they won at least that debate.
“It’s definitely called soccer now,” said a USA fan after the match. “They thought they were going to run us off the field. They didn’t do that.”
While the game itself may have been a snooze fest, the USA fans in the stands were a tad more lively than my snoring father over on the couch. And by a tad, I mean a lot. The “USA” chants could be heard throughout the entire game. It is true that, despite the fact that England has failed to beat the USA in all three of their World Cup matches, they were still expected to be the winners by pretty much everyone. So a draw for the USA felt like a win, even if it was not as exciting to watch as goals on goals are.
“The American fans were awesome,” said an English fan after the game. “And the English fans were just subdued.”
As one American fan compared Christian Pulisic to Lionel Messi, an English fan walked by another pair of American fans decked out in the US flag, telling them, “you won 0-0! Well-played”. In a nutshell, that’s how it felt. The US won 0-0. The English lost 0-0.
What happens now that the USA and England tied?
The USA tied 1-1 with Wales. Wales lost to Iran and England beat Iran. After the 0-0 draw with England, the US are third in Group B. So, the US must beat Iran in order to qualify for the Round of 16. They could top the group if England lose to Wales, or if England and Wales draw and the US beats Iran by four or more goals.
England is still pretty comfortable at the top of the group. There were a lot of “ifs” up there. The only way that England would fail to qualify for the Round of 16 would be if Wales beat them, by a lot. A win or draw with Iran would still see England go through to the next round. No matter who wins in the USA vs Iran match, England would have to lose to Wales by four goals to fail to qualify. If the USA vs Iran match ends in a draw, England is even safer - they would have to lose to Wales by six or more goals to fall to third.
Both games will take place on Tuesday, November 29 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time with the England vs Wales game at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium and the USA vs Iran game at Al Thumama Stadium. You can follow along with our live text coverage of the games right here on AS USA.