Southgate: Qualification after two games “unrealistic”; England 'showed resilience' against USA

England coach Gareth Southgate has decided to focus on the positives after his side drew 0-0 against USA at the World Cup.

The highs of an early 6-2 thrashing against Iran were quickly forgotten as Southgate's side worked hard for a performance described as 'terrible' by former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane.

"I knew it would be difficult for us after such a summit (against Iran) to replicate that type of performance, so I'm really happy with how the players applied themselves," Southgate told ITV.

"Some of our quality in the final third could have been a bit better, but we showed great resilience to defend against an opponent who kept asking questions and we didn't just haven't been able to open them with that really neat luck.

"We didn't quite have the same zip but that's going to happen with tournament football. We're not going to roll out a tournament and sweep everyone away without having nights like this where you have to show different qualities to achieve the result.

"The silver medal today was a point because it puts us in a very strong position in terms of qualification. If we can win our last game (against Wales on Tuesday), we win the group.

"The goal is to get out of the group, you have three games to do that. We've done it in two games in the last two tournaments, but it's very unrealistic to expect that every time. "

Captain Harry Kane admitted England were far from their best, but told ITV: "We had good spells with the ball, created good positions, we just didn't have not the final product today, but a clean sheet puts us in a great position in the group.

"(It was) the total contrast to the game against Iran where we took our chances very well. Today we had two or three chances and we didn't quite put them to use. side. We played against a difficult team and we are moving on.

“We know we can definitely play better than that. No game is easy in a World Cup. is not the case."

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