• England 1-2 Spain
• Rashford 11; Saúl 13, Rodrigo 32
If nothing else, England’s footballers were spared the kind of treatment they might have anticipated in more mutinous times. In the warm afterglow of the summer’s World Cup, this was no time for recriminations and it was a sympathetic reaction at the final whistle. No matter that England had just lost their first competitive match at Wembley since the now-infamous defeat to Croatia in November 2007, or that this is the first time they have been beaten in three successive matches since Euro ’88.
At the same time, the feelgood factor might quickly dissipate if Gareth Southgate’s team continue to find the European Nations League so problematic. Once again, we were reminded of their difficulties when it comes to facing the elite nations. It was hardly the kind of homecoming that Southgate would have wanted and the fact England held the lead early on, courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s fourth international goal, will merely increase his frustrations.
Written by Daniel Taylor at Wembley
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/08/england-spain-nations-league-match-report under the title “Rodrigo consigns England to defeat to Spain in first post-World Cup match”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
