The last report I wrote started off by saying ,"What a crazy, crazy match", well this one was almost as crazy! A shocking start, should have been well beaten by half-time, but fought back to lead and all before the break. Barely two minutes had gone when Marc Guehi was badly caught in possession by, of all people, Lamine Yamal. He wasted no time, striding forward to shoot past the stunned James Trafford in goal for England. What an awful way to start a game. It had all stemmed from this terrible habit of pffaffing around with the ball in your own penalty area. Why do they continue to do it?

We continued to play back towards Trafford for much of the half, and the Leeds United player looked particularly uncomfortable with his passing, which sent out palpitations to most of England's fans! After six minutes Anthony Gordon made progress down the left but his pullback was cut out well by Unai Simon in the Spanish goal just before Bukayo Saka was ready to pounce. Two minutes later Myles Lewis-Skelly's weak pass was intercepted and from that Ferran Torres scored, but luckily for England he was well offside and the goal was ruled out. It was noticeable that the England defence, not for the last time were all at sea, or maybe still on their beach holidays.

It was fast and furious stuff all round with England trying to press but when in possession their crossing into the box was really poor. On 16 minutes Torres really should have made it 2-0 as he went clean through unchallenged, but this time Trafford was quickly out to block his shot. Over the next ten minutes the match was scrappy with England's shoddy play making it easy for Spain. It was often one step forward and two steps back from the home side. Then on 27 minutes Torres again had a simple chance to score. How he missed I don't know but he pulled his shot wide. What on earth was going on in our defence?

The end to end play continued with Nico O'Reilly fluffing a good crossing chance, Saka then shoots and the ball is deflected for a corner and then at the other end Yamal backheels to Dani Olmo, and once again Spain miss a sitter as Olmo pulls his shot wide. Really, Spain should have been out of sight at this stage, so what happened next came as a complete surprise.

England win possession on the edge of their own area and Jude Bellingham surges forward before passing to Gordon who moved forward and tucked the ball away with aplomb! 1-1. Some of the refereeing decisions were questionable, but England pressed on and sealed the turnaround. Harry Kane went very close to a second goal, shooting just wide, but moments later he was there again to head home from O'Reilly's excellent cross, the first decent cross of the night. Kane's header deflected off Marc Cucurella, but it was going in anyway so it's another one on Kane's brilliant tally. 2-1, and certainly you could not see that coming.

With just a few minutes of the half left Spain came very close twice to an equaliser. First Yamal missed a great chance and then Fabian Ruiz missed another sitter with the England defence again all over the place. It is difficult to remember a game at Wembley when England have presented the opposition with so many chances to score. Obviously, Spain are a top side and there is no way you can give them so many chances and not suffer. And so it proved.

To be fair, England did start the second-half on the front foot and they forced the Spaniards back. Both O'Reilly and Jarell Quansah came close to adding to the lead and this was probably the best spell England had had in the game so far. Then in the 54th minute the probable turning point came in the match. Bellingham was brought down in the box and although the referee didn't give it, VAR made the decision for him and a penalty was given. Kane to take it, yes, Kane to score, not this time sadly. As he struck the ball he slipped and although his shot beat the keeper it struck the bar and was cleared. Not only that Kane was deemed to have kicked the ball twice and a free-kick was given to Spain.

After Quansah poleaxed Cucurella with a shot that hit the defender on the head, (he was saved by his hair!), Spain cleverly rescued control of the game with a spell of keep ball. On the hour it was Yamal's turn to miss a sitter but the generous England defenders were able to give Spain another chance as O'Reilly passed straight to a Spaniard who teed up substitute Alejandro Baena and his shot was lethal as it sped past Trafford. Spain were now in the ascendency again and every time they pushed forward it looked as though they would score such was the fragility of the defending by England.

England had slipped back into their early first-half mode although Saka came close with one of his typical curling shots that went just wide, following a breakaway. Quansah was then caught in possession, and that was followed by a faulty hurried clearance from Trafford and this led to Spain regaining the lead. This time another substitute Mikel Oyarzabal received a good pass before shooting past the keeper. From a defensive point of view it was a poor goal to give away, but from Spain's point of view it was a good finish.

With Spain now having their tails up, it was going to be difficult for England to recover. Yamal shot over when well placed, and then more shoddy defensive work by England kept them on the defensive and time and time again the home players were left wanting with their play. As the minutes ticked by and Thomas Tuchel made some substitutions, Bellingham saw his shot easily saved, James Garner centred too long, a Morgan Rogers cross caused a bit of panic in the Spanish defence and finally another Bellingham shot is pushed away for a last corner that again came to nothing.

In the end, a mixed performance from England, poor defensive play all round, soft giveaway goals conceded, a missed penalty, and a deserved defeat.

Source Notes