In the first international break of the season, England welcomed Spain to Wembley in the first round of the newly-established UEFA Nations League, League A, Group 4, on Saturday, September 8, 2018.
The Teams
Gareth Southgate went with his usual 3-5-2 formation with Harry Maguire, John Stones and Joe Gomez ahead of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Jordan Henderson was the deepest midfield player while Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli played around him. Kieran Trippier on the right and Luke Shaw on the left provided width as the wing-backs, and upfront captain Harry Kane was joined by Marcus Rashford.
For Spain, Luis Enrique shaped the team for his competitive debut in a 4-3-3. David De Gea in goal, Sergio Ramos and Nacho in front of him, and Marcos Alonso on the left and Dani Carvajal on the right covering the defensive flanks. Sergio Busquets anchored the midfield while Saul Niguez and Thiago Alcantara played further up. Iago Aspas led the line upfront, flanked by Isco and Rodrigo.
The First Half
Both teams entered the clash cautiously and mostly employed patient build up, gently feeling for any gaps in the opposition lines to exploit. The first moment that could have given some excitement came in the seventh minute when Gomez fouled Saul in a good position for a decent cross and Alonso took it well, but England defended it without much problems.
But after 10 minutes, England suddenly took the lead. Henderson did well to keep the ball under pressure in midfield and engaged Kane who immediately released Shaw on the left. Shaw produced a superb low cross for his Manchester United teammate Rashford who slammed it past another club teammate – De Gea.
Their joy lasted only two minutes, however. Spain hit back very quickly with Rodrigo pulling the ball back from the right-wing position for Saul whose shot from around 15 yards hit the near-bottom corner and beat Pickford.
After that quick exchange of goals the tempo settled to a little higher level than before, but neither team was showing any more than the other. Apart from an occasional hopeful pass for an attacking player and a hopeful but off-target shot from Rodrigo there was no real spark, even though Kane had a feeble penalty appeal denied.
However, the pace of Rashford would still occasionally trouble the Spanish high back line even though the passes aimed for him lacked some accuracy to make it count again.
After a quarter of the game had passed, Spain were getting into the fray more and more. They looked especially dangerous down the right where Carvajal and Rodrigo combined nicely, often making England defenders turn on the spot and defend with a hint of panic in their moves.
And in the 32nd minute they managed to turn the game around, but the goal came from the other side – from a set piece. Referee Danny Makkelie gave a foul against Trippier on Alonso near the touch-line. Thiago whipped in a low cross right to the edge of six yards from where it was a simple tap-in for Rodrigo. The Valencia forward escaped the attention of Stones, ran past Kane, and Gomez wasn’t quick enough to beat him to the ball. A good moment for Southgate to watch repeatedly while thinking about set-piece defending.
England tried to respond quickly themselves, namely Henderson tried to find Alli in the box but Carvajal cleared it out for a corner in front of the Spurs midfielder, and De Gea produced a fine save to deny Rashford’s header from a great chance.
The tide in terms of possession turned with frequency as the game approached the break. Spain kept the ball in England’s half for longer spells while the English had trouble to get across the halfway line. But when they did, they created moments of potential danger and Ramos and Nacho had to have their wits sharp to cope.
England’s biggest problems seemed to be sloppiness in passing and perhaps a tad of lazy defending from the likes of Alli and Lingard. The two advanced midfielders’ pressing was practically non-existent and they were easily played past.
The Second Half
More problems hit England just two minutes into the second period. Carvajal and Shaw collided, and the United left back was knocked down, unable to continue. Danny Rose had to step up and take his place on the pitch as the former Southampton defender was stretchered off. The pause lasted quite a while and it was officially minute 54 when the substitution was actually made.
As the game resumed another good attack by Spain resulted in Alonso sending the ball across the box and finding Thiago completely free at 15 yards after some questionable defending from Alli, but the Bayern midfielder’s excellent volley went just over the bar.
Spain was now slowly putting the match under their control. Their attacks retained a hint of danger while England’s mostly failed cause any excitement at all apart from one moment when an offside position coupled with a poor finish prevented Kane from capitalizing on a good pass in behind by Trippier.
After 64 minutes Southgate tried to affect the game by replacing Henderson with Eric Dier, but there was no real difference in their approach. Three minutes later Enrique took out a bleak Aspas and sent in Marco Asensio.
Spain continued their domination and England tried to step up, but inaccurate passing was still haunting them going forward. They would occasionally play themselves into awkward positions and Spain found it easy to pounce and win possession. The visitors were slowing the tempo down at this point and there was very little England could do to make a difference.
With 10 minutes remaining, Enrique freshened up his midfield by replacing Thiago with Sergi Roberto.
But everything could have changed 60 seconds later. Kane and Rashford combined well and the United forward burst into the box and hit a powerful shot, but it went straight at De Gea. Five minutes from time De Gea once again thwarted Rasford in a great position with a superb save, though offside had been signaled.
England were finally finding ways to get into chances late on. Rose found himself in one and Maguire headed wide from a corner, before Enrique replaced Alonso with Inigo Martinez.
The home team’s hopes were boosted at the stroke of time when the fourth official confirmed there would be nine whole minutes of stoppage time to be played. Two had passed when Rodrigo failed to capitalize on a Stones blunder with an inaccurate lobbing shot from distance, and then Southgate threw Danny Welbeck into the fray instead of Rashford.
The Arsenal forward managed to put the ball into the net soon afterwards after a blunder from Ramos, but the referee rightly disallowed the goal for a foul on De Gea. England had two corners awarded in the dying seconds but Maguire, Kane and Welbeck failed to make something of them.
The Afterthought
The final result was a very good reflection of what was happening on the Wembley pitch for just under 100 minutes.
England have once again shown they have potential, but they need to keep working in certain areas and they seem like they lack a quality playmaker to make them really tick. Spain on the other hand still look like a mature team even without the likes of Andres Iniesta and David Silva, and they were the better side in this contest. Not by much, but still better.
Match Report
ENGLAND: Pickford 6.5, Gomez 6.5, Stones 7, Maguire 6.5, Henderson 6.5 (64′ Dier 6.5), Alli 6, Lingard 5.5, Trippier 6.5, Shaw 7 (54′ Rose 6.5), Rashford 7.5 (90’+2 Welbeck N/A), Kane 7.
SPAIN: De Gea 7.5, Ramos 6.5, Nacho 7, Carvajal 7, Alonso 7, Busquets 7.5, Thiago 7.5 (80′ S. Roberto N/A), Saul 7.5, Isco 7, Rodrigo 8, Aspas 5.5 (68′ Asensio 6.5).
GOALS: Rashford 11′, Saul 13′, Rodrigo 32′.
YELLOW CARDS: Henderson 18′, Shaw 42′, Stones 66′, Carvajal 83′.
REFEREE: Danny Makkelie (Holland).
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