They toiled in their games without him and their best display so far, and one of the best of the tournament, was the demolition of Poland when he was excellent. That said, the opening defeat to Japan was impacted by the early pelanty and red card to Carlos Sanchez.
I’m not sure I’d go so far as to use the word “formidable” to describe them but they are, in snooker parlance, doughty matchplayers. They’ve probably played around 20 high stakes games in the last few years between decisive Workd Cup qualifiers and Cope America ties whereas England come into the game relatively untested.