It was a night when England succeeded in doing one thing: dousing the expectations that had built so suddenly after the thrashing of Iran in their opening World Cup tie. The stalemate means they will almost certainly qualify for the last 16 – only a heavy defeat against Wales next Tuesday would derail them – but there was precious little else to quicken the pulse.
England were flat, moving the ball backwards and sideways too often. They could not get around the blue shirts of the United States, failing to stretch them and it very quickly turned into a slog, marked by a lack of imagination.
