England midfielder Jude Bellingham made headlines with his honest reaction after being named Man of the Match in England's goalless draw against Ghana at the FIFA World Cup. While the official award went to the Real Madrid star, Bellingham felt one of Ghana's defenders deserved the honour more after a disciplined display that frustrated England throughout the match.England dominated possession and outshot Ghana 19-1 in Boston on Tuesday, but Thomas Tuchel's side failed to find a breakthrough as Ghana executed their defensive game plan to perfection.Despite being named Player of the Match, Bellingham admitted he was surprised by the decision."I didn't deserve it, to be honest," Bellingham told FIFA's in-house media after the match."It should have gone to one of their lads who defended so well. I had a couple of moments, it was hard to get into the game and I'm grateful for whoever voted, but it should've gone to one of their lads."The draw was a setback for England after their entertaining 4-2 victory over Croatia in the opening Group L match. Bellingham also pointed to what he described as a familiar trend for England at major tournaments."Like always, it's second-game fever with England. Win the first one, do well and draw the second. It's OK though, they played for a draw that would've seen them go through and fair play to them," he added.The result marked the fourth straight major tournament in which England have drawn their second group-stage match.England controlled the ball for long periods but struggled to break down a compact Ghana side coached by Carlos Queiroz. The Portuguese tactician was delighted with how his team carried out the plan."Our plan was to block and frustrate them from the first minute," Queiroz said. "We did it."Bellingham acknowledged England's frustration after the match."Frustrated a little bit with how they defended, how they set up," he said. "They got exactly out of the game what they played for. Couldn't quite break them down, even with all corners, all the possession, all the shots on goal from distance."England came closest to scoring in the 86th minute when Nico O'Reilly's header hit the crossbar. Harry Kane reacted quickest to the rebound but could not keep his effort down.Declan Rice also praised Ghana's defensive organisation while urging England supporters not to overreact to the result."You have to give credit to Ghana," Rice told the BBC. "They were 5-4-1 off the ball, very compact, tight spaces to play through. Maybe we can do a little bit more with the ball and create a bit more, but it's tough as they're good players and it was never going to be an easy game."The Arsenal midfielder remained confident about England's chances of finishing top of the group."Loads of top nations drew their first game, so there's no need to be negative. We need to stay positive, keep going and recover before the next match against Panama.""It's always difficult when you play against 11 behind the ball as deep as they were. You've got to find solutions, and in the last 10 minutes we probably found more than we did in the rest of the game. We were unlucky not to score, but we still have a great chance to top the group."England manager Thomas Tuchel admitted his side found it difficult to deal with Ghana's shape and physical approach."They defended with a lot of determination. A lot of discipline," Tuchel said.The German coach also defended captain Harry Kane, who had a quiet evening."He was not involved as much as we would like to, but it was so narrow," Tuchel said. "It was difficult to find space. The little moments that he had were just so unlucky."The draw leaves both England and Ghana in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stage. England will face Panama in their final group match, while Ghana will take on Croatia as the race for qualification in Group L heads into the final round.
'I didn't deserve it': Jude Bellingham after being named MOTM in England-Ghana draw
England midfielder Jude Bellingham made headlines with his honest reaction after being named Man of the Match in England's goalless draw against Ghana at the FIFA World Cup.












