Ghana delivered a defensive masterclass that kept England at bay in Boston, orchestrated by a former Man Utd coach.
Carlos Queiroz and Sir Alex Ferguson
Carlos Queiroz and Sir Alex Ferguson prepare for Manchester United's Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in 2008
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There might have been a few Manchester United veterans nodding along sagely as they watched Ghana stifle England in Boston on Tuesday, maybe even wondering if the gym mats had been out again in the build-up to the group match.
The defensive masterclass was inspired by Carlos Queiroz, now 73 and in charge of Ghana at his fifth consecutive World Cup. He has been around the block and there are few better coaches at drilling players to stay compact and frustrate their opponents.
England were driven to distraction by Ghana packing the middle of the pitch and slowing the game down at every opportunity. They had 21% possession and made just 172 passes to England's 633, but they got the result they came for.
And the relevance to United? This is exactly what Queiroz did at Old Trafford during his time as Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant across two spells, but particularly from 2004 to 2008, when he really tightened the team up on the European stage.
His crowning glory came in the spring of 2008, when United beat a brilliant Barcelona side in the semi-finals of the Champions League to send them to Moscow and a final against Chelsea that they would win on penalties. Across two legs, they managed to frustrate the Catalans and won the tie 1-0 on aggregate, thanks to a brilliant Paul Scholes strike at Old Trafford.
It was a coaching performance that inspired current United head coach Michael Carrick, who played every minute of the two legs against a side featuring Xavi, Deco, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.
"We were playing relentless games because of the league and the Champions League, we didn't really have time to train physically and do a lot of work, but Carlos Queiroz led the session, and he's brought two gym mats out onto the pitch," Carrick said of that tie.
Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand shut off the space for Lionel Messi in the Nou Camp in 2008
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"We'd normally do situps on them, but he's put them on the pitch and slung them down just - it was me and Scholesy in midfield and I think Rio and Wes Brown were centre-halves - and he's put these two mats in between us, we're thinking; what's he up to here?
"Literally for about five minutes, he's just said don't let the ball get on those mats, so straight away you switch on and you're blocking that space off, that's where Barcelona, around the edge of the box, that's where they wanted to get into, that space, that was how they played at the time.
"We played 4-4-2, two banks of four, blocked off that space, got a 0-0 draw at Barcelona and obviously managed to beat them at Old Trafford. Just little things like that make you think."
It sounds like exactly the kind of tactical set-up that Ghana used to cut off England's threat, denying them the space around the edge of the box where Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane can often combine. It worked perfectly in 2008, and it's still working in 2026.
“A defensive masterclass orchestrated by Carlos," Gary Neville said of the first leg at the Nou Camp. "I’ve never seen such attention to detail.
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"He put sit-up mats on the training pitch to mark exactly where he wanted our players to be to the nearest yard. We rehearsed time and time again, sometimes walking through the tactics slowly with the ball in our hands. We learned how to control games under him."
The influence of Queiroz, both on that game and on United, has also been mentioned by Mikael Silvestre in the years since.
“I think it was something that Carlos brought to the first team," he said. "It was lots of drills and tactical positioning, knowing when to shift and when to put pressure or drop, because Barcelona can break very easily. So it’s important to stay compact over 90 minutes in both legs.
“We managed to do that and that was due to a lot of hard work. It’s not the best work, tactical work. I came from Italy and in England it was a little less [common].
“I remember as part of it, Scholesy was moaning a lot about the tactical work, but in the end it worked to help us beat Barcelona."
The tactical work has done the job again, and Queiroz has guided Ghana to the World Cup knockouts as a result.