On the field, it ended with a boring 0-0 result between England and the USA on Friday evening, which means that England still has the lead in the group with four points and steers towards advancement. But off the field, the heated debate surrounding England’s captain’s armband in the World Cup continues. Captain Harry Kane turned up once again without the rainbow on his arm. Mark Bullingham, director of the English Football Association (FA), was interviewed by ITV before kick-off against the USA. There he explained why the English Football Association did not choose to defy Fifa this time either. – Unfortunately, on the last match day, Fifa gave us 10 minutes notice that, two hours before the match, they came here (to England’s base in Qatar). There they came with five officials and went through a scenario where anyone wearing the captain’s armband would be given a yellow card and face disciplinary action on top of that,” Bullingham said in the interview. With no clear answer as to what the further punishment would be, the FA agreed that it would be unfair to ask players, who have dreamed of the World Cup all their lives, to take such a risk. – No protests without risk ITV’s football expert and former England player Ian Wright does not buy that explanation. – When Fifa shows up at the hotel two hours before the match and threatens them, it’s bound to scare them a little. But they had decided before the tournament to carry it out, and I stand by what I have said, there are no protests without risk, says Wright. Ian Wright believes England should stand by what they have said before the World Cup. Photo: Carl Recine / Reuters TV expert Gary Neville, also a former England player, had expected the FA to fall back on that decision. – They have always been a risk-minimizing organisation. It doesn’t surprise me that Fifa have behaved like this, they are a rogue organisation, and in this tournament we have seen them at their worst, says Neville. – But I think they should implement it, adds Neville. Roy Keane, who was also in the ITV studio, supports Neville. He believes that England should have just accepted a possible penalty. – If the players had meant this properly, something they have been talking about for a long time, you have to stick to it and be prepared to take a penalty. And I don’t think they would have lost any points or received other sanctions, it’s just threats, Keane believes. Wembley rainbow faces criticism Instead of playing with the rainbow captain’s armband, the England players went down on one knee just before kick-off, a symbolic gesture against racism and discrimination, while images showed that England’s home ground Wembley painted the famous stadium arch in rainbow colors at the same time as the match was kicked off in Qatar. Photo: Screenshot 25/11/2022 at 21.14 / Twitter In a statement, the English Football Association (FA) says the following about Friday’s commemoration: “The FA will continue to show our support for the LGBTQ+ community and all other groups during this tournament and beyond, starting with lighting up the Wembley Arch » writes the association. The organization Pride in Football, which is a network of LGBT groups in England, was not convinced by the Wembley marking. – Although we appreciate the gesture: When you do something so far away from Qatar, it is more to score cheap points than to create change, they write on Twitter. Big chances As for the match itself, it was close and even for a long time at the Al Bayt Stadium outside Doha. England manager Gareth Southgate chose to leave unchanged after Monday’s 6-2 victory against Iran and gave the same 11 confidence from the start, and it was paying off early when Harry Kane missed a big chance. Then the USA took over the match and created great dangers with Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic, where the latter shot into the crossbar, but the match was 0-0 at half-time. The USA started best after the break, and pressed England for a long time. But the Americans struggled to create the big chances. In overtime, Kane missed a great chance when he was allowed to head unpressured towards goal after a set piece, and thus it ended goalless. The English supporters were so dissatisfied with their own team that you could hear booing after the match. England finish their group stage against Wales on Tuesday 29 November. The US meets Iran on the same day.
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