World Cup fever has officially gripped the nation after England's win over Croatia. It wasn't just the fact that they scored four goals. Or that they beat a team in the top 15 of the FIFA rankings for the first time since 2002. The excitement levels stem from the fact that after a prolonged period of dire performances, England were fun again.
Unlike the fans however, Thomas Tuchel's side won't be getting carried away with their win. Their focus will shift now to the clash against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.
ESPN Africa's football journalists Ed Dove and Leonard Solms help provide the lowdown on what awaits the Three Lions against Ghana.
What are fans expecting from Ghana at this World Cup?
Solms: Ghana fans have seen their team go to a quarterfinal, almost make the semifinals before [in 2010]. From what I have seen, I think that people understand this team isn't quite as good as that one.
There's an understanding that the foundations of Ghanaian football on a club level with that generation of 2006 to 2010, they had risen through a system that was functioning better than Ghanaian club football is currently. So the team right now probably has a little bit less to work with.
I would certainly say if they make the quarterfinals -- even if they don't come as close to making the semifinals as they did in 2010 -- that would be viewed as a massive success. It's difficult to say, not being Ghanaian, if they would agree, but I would imagine a round of 16 appearance would be a decent return.
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What did we learn about Ghana from their victory over Panama?
Dove: Maybe not a huge surprise, but against Panama, they looked like they are still settling into life under their new coach, Carlos Queiroz. They didn't look as prepared, as well drilled as a lot of other teams at this tournament, which maybe you would expect under Queiroz for them to be more organised.
They weren't disorganised, but they looked like a team who was still finding their way under a new manager. That was his first competitive game with them. He only oversaw one previous match, which was their game against Wales -- a 1-1 friendly -- and they were not a well-oiled machine.
It was still a case of more individual players catching the eye because of their talent rather than the kind of structure, the kind of rigorous compact solidity and organisation that we've seen from a Queiroz team and that Ghana will ultimately expect to have got from him. So I would say that in the opening game, fears that Ghana would be underprepared having just appointed a manager so soon before the tournament started were realised.
Apart from Antoine Semenyo, who should England be wary of?
Dove: The Ghana player that England should be wary of after Semenyo is definitely Caleb Yirenkyi, who scored the winner against Panama very late on.
This guy is only 20. He's a powerful, energetic, dynamic central midfielder. He's currently playing in FC Nordsjælland in Denmark where he's been coached by Michael Essien, Ghana legend. There are lots of parallels that are being made with Essien due to this guy's strong, dynamic running through midfield, his determination to drive forward with the ball, his strength, his upper body strength.
He's a graduate of Ghana's Right to Dream Academy and central midfield is kind of a special thing in Ghana due to various reasons about how youngsters play football in Ghana. It's a country that creates lots of central midfielders or historically has created lots of great central midfielders, box-to-box like Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Essien, and Yirenkyi is another example of this type of player.
Mohammed Kudus misses the World Cup through injury. How big of a loss is he?
Solms: For me, he's a huge, huge miss. He's someone who came through Right to Dream. He's someone who he's got unbelievable football lQ, he can play several positions ... he was at Ajax at a young age. It's the kind of loss that it's difficult to even really quantify. I think that there seems to be a changing of the guard of sorts and I viewed him as maybe the leader of the new generation of players that's coming up and maybe four years ago it wasn't clear who else there was who was similarly talented, but now there's a few more players stepping up.
Spurs had a difficult season, but I also wonder if maybe if Kudus had been playing more, if they would have climbed the table a bit, because I really do feel that even though he's a player who comes across as being confident to the point of having a bit of an ego, I think he does make players around him better.
How has the entire situation around Thomas Partey and his visa ban impacted the team?
Solms: Obviously, it can't be a particularly welcome distraction at this point, but then again, I think that if you look at it from a purely football perspective, it's quite clearly a team that's used to just having to get on with it despite upheaval.
Changing coaches two months before the World Cup, changing coaches at a rate of about one a year in the course of the 2020s ... it has been such constant change. There have been reports of Ghanaian players not getting bonuses on time, I don't know exactly what level that extends to, but definitely it's a team that is used to these sorts of distractions and just blocking them out when they get on the pitch.
I don't think that in the immediate term it's going to have too much of a negative effect on them. But I think that long-term, when you look at a federation that's struggling for cash, it can't really help their image too much to be going through this in the middle of a World Cup. It's not ideal, but probably not catastrophic in the short term. I'm more worried about the long-term impact.
Which England player will Ghana be most afraid of?
Dove: I don't think that there's lots of players in England who have specific qualities that will specifically hurt Ghana rather than just being a great team. I think that Ghana won't be afraid of the midfield battle between Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice and their central midfielders, whether it's [Kwasi] Sibo, whether it's Evans Osei-Wusu, whether Thomas Partey comes back. I don't think they'll be afraid of that, but I think Harry Kane is the guy who I think for most teams, not just Ghana, really has the potential to really hurt you. Whether it's coming deep and playing between the lines with his passing, whether it's just this opportunistic finishing, his heading, whether it's what he can do from set pieces.
I think for an inexperienced and perhaps not the most convincing defensive unit plus goalkeepers who perhaps aren't the most convincing either, I think playing against an elite striker at the top of his game in great form ... Kane is someone that will probably be giving Ghana sleepless nights.
However, they may think actually the Queiroz approach of staying compact, staying resolute, very low block, very tight lines ... will that squeeze Kane? Will that starve him out of the game and help Ghana keep England at bay? We'll have to see.
What's something a lot of people might not know about Ghana's campaign?
Dove: So Ghana's win against Panama was their sixth win at a World Cup, which means they now equal Nigeria, who are obviously their enemies, as the African team who have won the most games at a World Cup. It puts them ahead of Morocco, ahead of Cameroon, ahead of Senegal, who were all on five with Ghana.
So Ghana have now gone to six equalling Nigeria. So one more win at this tournament, because obviously Nigeria aren't there, one more win would take Ghana outright into top spots assuming that they don't get overtaken by Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast etc.
What's perhaps most impressive about that is that Ghana have played 16 games at a World Cup, which is less than Nigeria, less than Morocco, less than Cameroon, less than Tunisia. So I think you can make a case that of the most successful teams in Africa, Ghana have actually got the best winning record at a World Cup.