Thomas Tuchel denied England are overly reliant on Harry Kane for goals after they failed to break down Ghana in a goalless World Cup draw on Tuesday.

The Three Lions must wait until they face Panama on Saturday to secure their spot in the knockout stages, after Carlos Queiroz's well-organised side kept them at arm's length.

England's 78.8% possession share was their highest in a World Cup match on record and the highest by any team when failing to score in tournament history (since 1966).

Their 19 shots were their most without scoring in a World Cup game since their final group-stage match in 2002, another 0-0 draw with Nigeria, while Ghana's two attempts were the joint-fewest of any team at the 2026 competition thus far.

England's best chance fell the way of captain Kane in the second half, but he skewed over a gaping goal on the rebound after Nico O'Reilly's header came back off the crossbar.

Kane contributed 0.47 expected goals (xG) to England's overall tally of 1.36, with Ghana putting up a mere 0.17. His 19 touches, meanwhile, were his fewest in a major tournament game for England while playing 90+ minutes (Euros/World Cup).

But when asked if England relied too heavily on their skipper, Tuchel queried whether the same questions would be asked of Argentina's Lionel Messi or France's Kylian Mbappe.

"I mean, does Argentina rely too heavily on Messi and France rely too heavily on Mbappe? It's just what it is," Tuchel said.

"To rely on Harry, it's just a natural thing because he loves the responsibility and he takes it. 

"He was not involved as much as we would like, but it was just so, so narrow. We rely on Harry because we can, because he's our forward, but we don't over-rely on him."

England have now drawn 23 games at the World Cup, with 13 of them being 0-0 – both are the highest numbers of any side in the history of the competition.

They are still assigned an 81% chance of topping Group L by the Opta supercomputer, though, as a victory over Panama in New Jersey will be enough as long as Ghana do not rack up the goals while beating Croatia on the same day.

And Tuchel played down the significance of England dropping points as he pointed to Ghana's defence-first approach, saying only one team was committed to chasing a winner.

"We don't need a wake-up call. Everyone is alert and everyone is fully committed. There can be no doubt. I can assure that to everyone," Tuchel said. 

"There was no overconfidence in our game. Not at all. If there was anything, there was maybe in some moments a bit of over-cautiousness. 

"It is what it is. But we have four points out of two matches and still a match to play. We are able to win our last match and we will try to win it, of course. 

"It is very important that the highs don't get too high and the lows do not get too low. And today is not a low, it was just a difficult match.

"It's a long tournament. The boys tried everything. They played with the right energy. I know it's a very different game. 

"Sometimes, in this case, one team tries to play against this deep block. You don't find the spaces and it's difficult for you to create chances. It can be difficult to watch. 

"It's not as exciting as two teams trying to win a more open game. We always try to entertain our fans, but it takes two to tango."