On a night of stalemate with the USA Gareth Southgate’s limp team seemed content simply to stay out of trouble
One point gained, or two hours lost? Certainly as England and the United States trundled their way to a fey and forgettable goalless draw, it was only natural to wonder how we might all have been spending this time more productively. Perhaps when the end finally comes, when we are lying on our deathbeds preparing to gasp our final breath, we will think back to that night we spent watching John Stones and Harry Maguire mesmerically passing the ball to each other, and quietly mourn the passing of time.
It was scarcely more enthralling in the flesh than it will have been on television. The Al Bayt stadium rumbled and murmured. A lone drummer in the US end pounded out a menacing rhythm. Stones and Maguire carried on passing the ball to each other, with Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier occasionally chipping in. There was some more passing. Some more drumming. Empires rose and fell. The seas parted and unparted again. Everyone got a little older.
