FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Thomas Tuchel has urged England fans not to lose belief in his team after being held to a 0-0 stalemate by Ghana at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday.
England registered 79% possession and 19 shots but were unable to find a way through against Carlos Quieroz's well-organised side as substitute Nico O'Reilly hit the crossbar and captain Harry Kane blazed over rebound in a late flurry.
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Despite dominating the game, England laboured to create meaningful chances for long periods in what was a step back from the impressive opening 4-2 win over Croatia.
England are still top of Group L and after hailing the connection between the team and supporters last week, Tuchel called for patience following a disappointing result.
"It is a long tournament," Tuchel told a news conference. "The boys tried everything and again they played with the right energy.
"I know it is a very difficult game and in this case, if one team tries to play and run against this deep block, you don't find the spaces and it is difficult for you to create chances, it can be difficult to watch and it is not as exciting as two teams trying to win it in a more open game.
"We know. We always try to entertain our fans. It was difficult today, I hope they don't lose belief. It is a long way to go. Credit to our opponent and I just feel like I was right: we play in a very difficult group."
Kane scored twice against Croatia and is England's all-time record goalscorer with 81 goals from 115 internationals. Only two other members of their World Cup squad are in double figures with Marcus Rashford on 19 and Bukayo Saka on 14 but Tuchel denied his team were excessively reliant on the 32-year-old Bayern Munich striker.
"Does Argentina rely too heavily on [Lionel] Messi and France rely too heavily on Kylian Mbappé? It is just what it is," said Tuchel.
"They are world class players and they do normally what they do. Everyone is pushing and we had three different goalscorers in the first match. To rely on Harry is just a natural thing because he loves the responsibility and he takes it.
"He was not involved as much as we would like to but it was just so, so narrow. Our two central defenders were responsible for the build-up and then it was basically eight against 10.
"It was difficult to find space. The little moments he had were just unlucky. The last one is normally a clear goal and would have gotten us a deserved win. We rely on Harry because we can because he's our forward but we don't over-rely on him."