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Key events
38 min “Lenny Walker’s decision to bring on Dale Banton for Aldershot (as was then) late on against Halfax at The Rec in, ooh, 1990(?) was pretty dreadful,” reckons David Johnson. “Fluffed a load of chances. Cost The Shots a … hmm … shot at eighth place and a potential run for the Fourth Division playoffs that year. Surely up there.”
Agreed.
36 min Again, England jump on Zubimendi, Gordon at him and finding Rogers, who flips a square pass towards the back post, but Laporte does enough to flick away. Immediately Spain counter with Lamine down the right; he snaps a curler that flies just wide, though had it been on target, I think Pickford would’ve got it.
35 min “1970 World Cup quarter final, England v West Germany,” says Rhys Davies. “Ramsey took off Bobby Charlton, freeing up Beckenbauer. The rest is history.”
Yup, that might be the daddy – Norman Hunter for Martin Peters was also a vibe.
34 min England win a free-kick down the right, Rice coming from behind it to generate the chwhip he’s after … only to overhit, Simon coming to claim.
31 min Kane drops deep and accepts the ball on the back foot, under pressure … and Ruiz robs him, but England quickly win it back. They look really well organised in terms of defensive structure but, more than that, there’s a desire from each individual to take responsibility. The question, though, is whether they can keep that focus and discipline across 90 minutes, and whether their attackers can create; it’s been a while since they exerted serious pressure on the Spain defence.
30 min It’s a bit messy now, which England won’t mind. They’re set up for a physical contest, and the more play is broken, the more they’re able to enforce that advantage.
28 min Tuchel’s performance against Argentina is surely one of the great managerial eff-ups; which others spring to mind? Those in my head: Pep Guardiola, Man City v Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final; Alex Ferguson, Man United v Chelsea 2010. Any more for any more?
26 min Cucurella and Baena combine down the left and Ruiz’s subsequent cross is a goodun, but Quansah does really well to head clear, the ball landing on Porro’s laces … and ensuing volley landing I don’t even know where.
25 min Simon takes a liberty, drilling a hopeful pass through the middle of the pitch to which Konsa is first. He meets the ball with a solid header, finding Bellingham, who I think is offside, and once the shot slides by the near post, the flag is raised.
23 min We’re into that 4-4-2-block stage, Spain pinning them back into their shape, and Lamine slipping a pass into Baena, through the legs of Barcelona teammate Gordon; I doubt this is the last he’ll hear of a shameful episode.
22 min Lamine runs at Hall, who maybe just about fouls him. The requested yellow card does not follow, and the free-kick eludes Porro.
21 min Yup, Pedro Porro replaces Pubill – a change I think may actually help Spain, the new man’s first-phase excellence, ability to invert and goal-threat of greater use than the physicality they’re losing.
19 min Pubill is hurt, clattered by Simon when the keeper came to punch that second England corner; I don’t think he can carry on.
18 min And here comes Hall, picking a diag that takes him from touchline to box, beating two men with Rogers bumrushing the near post. The cross, though, is blocked behind then, when the corner comes in, another inswinging brute from Rice, Kane heads past the far post. He’ll be relieved the flag goes up, for that was a chance.
17 min The game has settled after that rabid England start, Spain much more of a factor now, but here come England again, Anderson megging Merino and Kane moving the ball on. Nothing comes of it, but England step on to them again!
15 min The free-kick is swung out, but Oyarzabal can’t get enough on it and Quansah, who’s started well, imparts enough of a touch to see it away.
15 min The first flash of Lamine, who runs at Hall, moves inside via nutmeg – ouch – then Rice clips him from behind and is booked.
14 min Already, the inclusion of Merino is giving Spain a problem – when he drops, Quansah is following him, and he’s not able to make the extra man in midfield.
13 min So far, England have had 62% possession. Do not adjust your television sets, this is not a misprint.
11 min England’s press is excellent, its latest application forcing Simon to kick long; Wimblespain! Of course, at some point, the pass-and-move is likely to assume control, but if Tuchel’s men can grab a goal, they’ve the ability on the counter to add to it.
9 min This is the best nine minutes England have played under Tuchel and probably Southgate too, bristling with confidence, intensity and menace. Gordon gets Pubill squared, barges by on the outside … but his cut-back is into traffic.
8 min England move the ball about, a long diag finding Hall, who crosses low, first time. No one is in the middle for it, but Bellingham applauds the idea, presumably a tactic.
7 min Yup, led by Rice, England jump on Zubimendi, the ball squirts free, and the best 15-22 yard finisher of all time, Harry Kane, swishes a low sweep … just past the near post.
5 min I bet England have given themselves a serious talking-to before coming out tonight. They’ve started like they mean it, the pain of their World Cup subsidence still raw. They won’t want to experience that sense of loss and desolation ever again; they’ll be experiencing it until the day they die.
3 min Gosh, am I dreaming? England win the ball high with Rice, securing a second corner … and this time, Simon comes to punch clear.
2 min The corner is an excellent one, met on the volley and on the run by Bellingham … this must be! But somehow, Simon extends an arm to prang the ball away! So England recylce quickly, finding Gordon inside the box, and he opts to pass a finish he might’ve driven … allowing Laporte to block! Tremendous start from England, but might they already regret these missed opportunities?
1 min The camera in the Metropolitano is vertiginously high, but not bad for watching how Spain pass and move. But it’s England into it immediately, the ball fizzing between Gordon, Bellingham and Kane and out to White, who wins a corner off Pubill.
1 min Away we go!
Casillas, along with Fernandos Llorente and Torres, lay flowers in memory of Jesus de Miguel, the Tenerife striker who died so tragically, and in tribute to the victims of the recent high-speed train crash. There’s a moment of silence.
“So Konsa and Quansah pair up as centre-halves,” writes Charles Antaki. Very good; the first pair of players whose names end with a schwa since, I reckon, Terry Butcher and Des Walker. Vaguely interesting, but sadly no guarantee that the quality will match up. Nevertheless, good lads both.”
I’ve learnt a word. Ferdinand de Saussure has nowt on me.
Spain’s go now, their underrated banger offering no lyrics.
Anthem time, the pashun side-contest won convincingly by Rice.
And now Iker Casillas presents the World Cup to Unai Simon, who raises it aloft for what must be the 79,043rd time. I doubt it gets boring.
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!
Ah, I forgot to note that James Trafford has been given the start in net. Maybe it’s to keep Jordan Pickford on his toes, but it won’t have escaped Tuchel’s attention that his no 1 got nowhere near Enzo Fernandes’ equaliser in Atlanta – not did it escape Bellingham’s, caught on camera saying “It was in the middle of the goal”, perhaps with added expletive. Pickford has been decent for England, but that doesn’t mean better isn’t possible.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Hall does against Lamine. He’s an excellent builder of play and a pretty good defender too, but does he have the explosion and recovery pace to get close?
When did Vogue become Shoot become Mizz? The December edition not only features Jude Bellingham as its cover star – I can’t say my wife was impressed when it arrived through the letterbox – but with a gatefold poster, signed “Jude X”. And of course the “Hey Jude” headline is stone-cold genius; how do they think of these things?!
Pre-match controversy:
I daresay Lamine Yamal, for one, disagrees with his manager.
Spain, meanwhile, will want to circulate the ball, pulling England’s midfielders out wide to open that space in the middle Tuchel knows they mustn’t vacate; easier said than done. Ruiz will look to attack the box, Merino too – with both adding set-piece threat – while Lamine and Baena will both fancy themselves to have the better of their full-back, both inside and out.
Oyarzabal will, I think, play off Quansah, fancying his nous to create space, while I’d not be surprised if Rice is the pressing trigger, the front players looking to jump when the ball goes into him.
So, where is the game? I actually think Spain’s XI gives England a good chance. I’d not be at all surprised if Anthony Gordon is under orders to get about Martin Zubimendi – the way Alex Ferguson once did with Park Ji-Sung and Andrea Pirlo – a lovely passer but, by the standard a little weak. Mikel Arteta signed him because Declan Rice isn’t a first receiver, able to turn on the ball and punch into midfield, only to find the physicality of the Premier League was too much, hence the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes, so Gordon – and Morgan Rogers – can worry him, allowing England to take possession high up the pitch.
I also think they’ll use Kane dropping deep to thread passes in behind Spain’s high line, Gordon and Rogers looking to attack the space with Bellingham also joining the last line. Meantime, Anderson and Rice will seek to carry the ball forward, with the former also seeking to unfurl long passes and get the home defence turned to face their own goal.
I should add that, while England could have won that Wembley game –they’d have been close to impregnable at 3-1 – they might easily have been 3-0 down before they scored.
Tuchel speaks, telling ITV that “it’s a beautiful match”. They’ve qualified, done their homework and now can try and top the group.
Quansah keeps his place for doing well, while he wants to see White under pressure and cites his club partnership with Konsa as a reason for picking him, just as last game, he went for the Newcastle understanding between Burn, Hall and Gordon down the left side.
Otherwise, he wants to see “patient defending” when in a 4-4-2 or deep block, adding that, “under no circumstance” can they “open the middle” as, if you do, Spain will “go right through you” as they did to score their third when winning 3-2 at Wembley – a game in which Harry Kane missed a penalty to put England 3-1 up. Finally, they must avoid ball-losses in their own half.
Taking a closer look at the England side, there’s no getting away from it: the defence isn’t up to standard. Lewis Hall, mind-bogglingly omitted from the World Cup squad, is in – Tuchel’s problems were not just reflective of a panic at a crucial moment, but that he picked a group able to play one way only, without difference-making options. Otherwise, though, Konsa is now an automatic choice, but Quansah callow and lacking elite potential, while White is a decent Premier-League player and nothing more.
Email! “Thanks for putting up the squad list,” says Edan Tal. “Delighted that Clint Hill finally managed his long awaited call up.”
Shaun Derry next. Or Dan Burn.
Back to the teams, the thing that strikes me about Spain’s – the thing that always strikes me about Spain’s – is the absence from it of Pedri. I’m not sure there’s another midfielder in the world I’d prefer to have, but De la Fuente likes the balance without him, even with Rodri absent. I do wonder, though, if they’ll be able to exert their usual midfield control, given he’s gone for Merino, who offers goal-power but not loads else.
What’s on the line? Er, not much. Both sides are into the last eight, but the group-topper – England if they win tonight, Spain if they don’t – will play an unseeded team in the quarters, with the second leg at home, when the competition resumes at the end of March. In contention from the other A-groups are Italy, France, Belgium; Netherlands, Greece, Germany; Portugal, Denmark, Norway.
As for England, Thomas Tuchel plumps for the joy of a Konsa/Quansah centre-back pairing, with Dan Burn dropping out. Otherwise, Ben White is in at right-back ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the now-settled front six remains the same.
Spain are still without Rodri, but Lamine Yamal, rested for the 2-0 win away to Czechia, returns in place of Yeremy Pino. Otherwise, Pedro Porro, so important at the World Cup, loses out to Marc Pubill; Dean Huijsen is replaced by Aymeric Laporte; Mikel Merino is in for Fermin Lopez; and Mikel Oyarzabal is at centre-forward, not Ferran Torres.
We’ll go into those shortly, but in the meantime, also going on:
Teams!
Spain (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Pubill, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Zubimendi, Fabian Ruiz, Merino; Lamine Yamal, Oyarzabal, Alex Baena. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Marc Roca, Huijsen, Ferran Torres, Fermin Lopez, Pino, Pedro Porro, Barrios, Williams, Munoz, Pedri.
England (4-2-3-1): Trafford; White, Konsa, Quansah, Hall; Rice, Anderson; Rogers, Bellingham Jude, Gordon; Kane. Subs: Pickford, Steele, Alexander-Arnold, Hill, Burn, Spence, Lewis-Skelly, Gibbs-White, Bellingham Jobe, Eze, Ngumoha, Calvert-Lewin.
Preamble
The scandal of England’s World Cup semi-final capitulation is already enshrined in the extensive annals of mythological failure; failure so gloriously tepid and inept it’s barely failure at all, rather a perfectly pitched lyrical paean to the sacred, desperate art of getting in your own way as wimpishly as possible. It is beautiful.
The truth, though – and part of the beauty – is it remains an ultimately futile act. Let’s say England see out the win, setting up a final meeting with Spain: Emlyn, what happened next?
Spanish football stye is, without doubt, the hardest there’s ever been to beat. We saw it with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, Vicente del Bosque’s national team – and now with Luis de la Fuente’s European and World champions. None of those sides were or are without obvious, glaring flaws, and yet their ability to look after the ball; their command of angles, most particularly of movement and first touch; their commitment to their principles; leave all opponents with an impossible dilemma: try to beat them by being more like them, or try to beat them by playing in a way they are expert at neutralising. Good luck, chaps.
Which is to say that, had England eliminated Argentina in Atlanta, they’d almost certainly have lost the final in the same predictable way they lost the Euro final. However – football being a perfectly balanced sport in which to cover one hole you necessarily leave another open – there’s always a however. So, however: that embarrassment of England’s defeat might, finally, have forced home the bitter reality that teams who cower and hope time runs out quickly enough to save them are not teams who win tournaments.
Tonight’s match will take a decent barometer of how deeply they believe an axiom proved infallible over many, many decades. The game being the game, a result that would once have been the difference between progress and not barely matters, given both sides are already through to the next stage. But this contest is not about that, rather about whether England can find a way of imposing themselves – on Spain, but also on themselves, for there is beauty in that too
Kick-off: 8.45pm local, 7.45pm GMT
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