England manager Gareth Southgate claims he knew they would struggle against USA in their second match of the World Cup.
Southgate was keen to focus on his side’s “resilience” and retaining control of their World Cup destiny after a drab 0-0 draw with the United States.
Following their opening 6-2 thrashing of Iran Southgate’s side struggled for performance in their second game.
“I knew it would be difficult for us after such a high (against Iran) to replicate that type of performance, so I’m really pleased with how the players have applied themselves,” Southgate told ITV.
“Some of our quality in the final third could have been a little bit better, but we’ve shown great resilience to defend against an opponent that kept asking questions and we’ve just not been able to open them up with that really clear-cut chance.
“We didn’t quite have that same zip but this is going to happen with tournament football. We’re not going to roll through a tournament and sweep through everybody without having nights like that where you’ve got to show different qualities to get the result.
“Silver medal today was a point because it puts us in a really strong position in terms of qualification. If we can win our last game (against Wales on Tuesday) we win the group.
“The objective is to get out of the group, you get three games to do it. We’ve done it in two games the last two tournaments, but it’s very unrealistic to expect that every time.”
