Spain edge England in five-goal thriller
Spain stretched its unbeaten sequence to 39 matches by coming from behind to defeat England 3-2 in the Nations League on Saturday at Wembley. Mikel Oyarzabal, who came on as a substitute, netted the winning goal in the 74th minute, calmly lifting the ball over goalkeeper James Trafford from close range. Oyarzabal had also scored the decisive goal when Spain beat England in the 2024 European Championship final. This time his finish completed the world champions' recovery after they had trailed 2-1 at halftime.[S1]
England were left to rue a missed penalty that would have put them 3-1 ahead, along with errors that gifted Spain their first two goals. Lamine Yamal gave Spain a dream start, scoring inside two minutes after dispossessing defender Marc Guehi and firing low into the far corner. Spain created the better chances, and Ferran Torres, the scorer of the winning goal in the World Cup final, twice failed to convert when through on goal. England equalized in the 36th minute through Antony Gordon, who combined with Jude Bellingham on a swift breakaway and slid a low shot past Unai Simon. Four minutes later, Harry Kane put England ahead with a header that deflected off Marc Cucurella.[S1]
Early in the second half, England had a chance to extend their lead when Rodri brought down Kane in the box, and after a VAR review a penalty was awarded. However, Kane slipped as he took the kick, and the opportunity was lost. That miss proved costly when, on the hour, substitute Alex Baena curled a low shot into the corner to level the game, with Nico O'Reilly guilty of losing possession near his own goal. Spain then completed the comeback as Oyarzabal converted from Baena's assist. England coach Thomas Tuchel described the penalty miss as potentially decisive, telling ITV Sport that Spain might have started to believe their unbeaten run would end. He also noted that Spain's third goal was the only one they truly earned, with the others resulting from individual mistakes.[S1]
Modric and other Nations League results
Luka Modric, at 41, continues to deliver for Croatia, scoring his nation's opening goal in a 2-1 away win against the Czech Republic. Spain leads Group A3 ahead of Croatia on goals scored. In other matches, new Scotland coach Sebastien Pocognoli began his tenure with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia. Zeki Amdouni scored twice in Switzerland's 3-0 victory away to North Macedonia, and Joel Pohjanpalo netted a hat trick as Finland thrashed bottom-ranked San Marino 7-0.[S1]
