Key events
England: Barney Ronay takes us through the evening that was at Wembley as Tuchel’s side fell away against superior technicians again.
The most unfavourable interpretation of this is a pattern being established. England lost another game where they just seem to get close, to lose control, to fail to hold the midfield. Both of Spain’s decisive goals were either made or scored by Luis de la Fuente’s two attacking substitutes, neither of whom looked much like Dan Burn.
But it wasn’t quite like that. For a start, England were much better here than in Atlanta, and against a better team. Wembley was its usual chilly self at kick-off, a place where even on a Saturday night the general vibe is echoey, corporate space, like a visit to the Ideal Home exhibition or a peculiarly low-throttle ABBA tribute event.
England: Two defensive errors and a penalty miss from Harry Kane cost Thomas Tuchel’s side at Wembley last night. After Marc Guéhi’s mistake allowed Lamine Yamal to score early, two quickfire goals saw England lead at the break. But another error from Nico O’Reilly gave Spain a route back into the game and Euro 2024 hero Mikel Oyarzabal scored another winner against England.
Thomas Tuchel said …
If we learn from it there are some positives to take from it. We will try to do a review tomorrow. We will highlight the positives. There is stuff we can do better.
There is no sense in showing individual mistakes or saying please don’t do mistakes. There are things we can do better. We wanted to be the team to beat them. We think we had them. We think we had them at half-time. It is something to build on.
When it was pointed out to him that England’s defensive errors were made by two perhaps distracted Manchester City players, Tuchel played down the impact of Friday’s news about the club’s guilty verdict …
I won’t comment on it as it’s an ongoing case. I didn’t make it a topic. It was not a topic for me. I’m just thinking about Spain, and the team and meetings. Not for me. The players have more time than me so for sure I can imagine that they talk about it. It’s good that they do. I don’t think it was a distraction for them.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to matchday live. We’ll be bringing you all the reaction to England’s 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley, including the now common detractions about the defence and Thomas Tuchel’s in-game management. How much should we be reading into a pretty fun Nations League opener?
Scotland were also in action in a fairly predictable goalless draw at Slovenia in Sebastien Pocognoli’s first game in charge. Today’s match between Israel and the Republic of Ireland in Hungary will go ahead after the Ireland team stopped short of a boycott. Their goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu has refused to play in protest at Israel’s military action in Gaza. Wales are also back in action in Denmark after their opening defeat to Portugal.
In the Women’s Super League, there’s a Merseyside derby at Anfield and a heavyweight clash at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on Arsenal, with both sides looking to keep pace with the champions Manchester City, who kept up their 100% record yesterday. London City Lionesses continued their impressive start yesterday thanks to a first goal from Alexia Putellas.
We’ll also bring you any developments and comments on the Manchester City case after the club were found guilty on virtually all counts of breaching Premier League financial rules on Friday.
And you can mail us at matchday.live@theguardian.com if you want to get in touch.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/sep/27/israel-republic-of-ireland-england-spain-matchday-live
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