Ghana's wall holds: Black Stars frustrate England to a goalless draw and close on the last 32

Ghana produced a defensive masterclass to hold England to a 0-0 draw in Boston, surviving 19 shots and a 93rd-minute goal-line clearance. The point leaves both sides on four points and on the brink of the last 32.

Ghana produced a defensive masterclass to hold England to a goalless draw at Boston Stadium, the Black Stars throwing bodies on the line to frustrate the Three Lions and leave Group L finely poised. England had seventy-eight percent of the ball and nineteen shots. Ghana had a plan, and the discipline to see it through.

Thomas Tuchel's England controlled everything but the scoreline. They passed and probed and pressed, but Carlos Queiroz's Ghana sat in a compact five-four-one and refused to break. Thomas Partey marshalled the midfield, the back line cleared everything that came, and Benjamin Asare handled the little that got through.

The chances came, and Ghana survived them all. Harry Kane somehow blazed a rebound over the bar from close range. Substitute Nico O'Reilly thundered a header against the underside of the crossbar. England huffed and puffed, but the final touch kept deserting them.

The closest they came arrived deep in stoppage time. On ninety-three minutes Marc Guéhi rose to meet a corner and his looping header was dropping under the bar, only for Ghana to hack it off the goal line. It summed up the night, and the roar from the Ghanaian end told the story.

For Ghana this was a point earned the hard way, every man behind the ball, every block an act of defiance. Iñaki Williams and Jordan Ayew ran themselves into the ground up front, but the night belonged to the defenders and to a goalkeeper who would not be beaten.

The numbers were lopsided, nineteen shots to two and seventy-eight percent of the ball, and still no way through. England will wonder how they failed to win it. Ghana will not care in the slightest, because a clean sheet against this England is worth its weight in gold.

The draw leaves both sides on four points and on the brink of the last 32. England stay top of Group L on goal difference after their opening win over Croatia, with Ghana right behind them after beating Panama in their opener. A point apiece, and both nearly through.

Back home, this one felt like a victory. Kenyans love an underdog digging in, and watching the Black Stars hold firm against England, all that money and all those Premier League names, was its own kind of joy. Ulinzi wa Ghana ulikuwa wa chuma, na bara zima likasimama nao: Ghana's defence was made of iron, and the whole continent stood with them. Our Africa round-one verdict backed the continent's resilience, and the Black Stars just gave the perfect example of it.