Was this England’s best performance since 1966? On the surface, England conceded 20 shots in their 3-2 win against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium – which sounds alarming.
- After Quansah's red, Thomas Tuchel's reshuffle introduced Stones, Spence, Burn into a back five that soaked pressure.
- England made 49 clearances, their second most in a World Cup match; 37 in the second half, many after Raúl Jiménez's penalty.
- Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford repeatedly punched clear, making five post-red interventions, the most in a World Cup match since 1974.
Yet if you drill into the numbers, the 19 non-penalty shots they faced were collectively worth only 1.09 expected goals (xG). Thomas Tuchel’s men defended superbly.
It was inevitable that they would need to once Jarell Quansah was sent off in the 54th minute. A defensive reshuffle led to England ending the match by fielding substitutes in John Stones, Djed Spence and Dan Burn alongside Marc Guéhi and Ezri Konsa in a back five. They withstood intense pressure. Mexico attempted 52 crosses in the match, with Roberto Alvarado alone responsible for 23 (19 more than England).
But while Bukayo Saka provided an assist with the only successful cross by anybody on his side, Mexico created little of value with their passes from wide areas. This was because it was usually the head or foot of an England player that got to the ball first. The team made 49 clearances, their second most in a World Cup match without extra time since records began.
Over half of their tally occurred after Raúl Jiménez made the score 3-2 from the penalty spot. England made 37 clearances in the second half – 20 after the clock showed 81 minutes had elapsed.
It was a tremendous team effort to see out the result, with nine men making at least one clearance in the final nine minutes plus stoppage time. Arguably the most important players in this regard were the subs. It wasn’t just that Burn, Spence and Stones made numerous clearances, interceptions and blocks during their collective 100 minutes on the pitch, it’s that they did very little else.
Their task was almost solely to withstand the rolling waves of attacks. “I’m known for my height and the way I defend, that’s blocking shots, blocking crosses, I was really trying to grind it out,” Burn said after the match, with an air of understatement.
Where Burn used his head, Jordan Pickford relied on his fists. The Everton goalkeeper punched the ball clear 18 times in the most recent Premier League season, less than once every other match. He recorded five in the period after England went down to 10 men in this game, dominating his penalty area to heights rarely seen from anyone. Not since 1974 has a goalkeeper made more punches in a World Cup match.
Similar defensive prowess is likely to be required in the quarter-final. Erling Haaland has scored five headed goals in 12 matches in World Cup qualifying and the tournament itself, as many as he managed in league and Europe for Manchester City last season. Norway will look to find their talisman with crosses but Tuchel’s defence proved against Mexico they will relish the battle.
While the jury may be out on whether this was England’s best match in 60 years, the figures show the defensive performance was undeniably outstanding.
