London (AFP) – Thomas Tuchel remains convinced England can get over the line against the world’s best despite seeing his side blow a second-half lead to lose 3-2 to Spain on Saturday. The world champions were headed for a first competitive defeat in three-and-a-half years as England led 2-1 at half-time and then missed the chance to add to their lead when Harry Kane’s penalty rattled off the woodwork.
But two sloppy defensive errors cost Tuchel’s men for both Spain’s first two goals. Marc Guehi was caught in possession by Lamine Yamal for the visitors’ early opener before Nico O’Reilly’s wayward pass that led to Alex Baena’s equaliser swung momentum back in Spain’s direction. Mikel Oyarzabal then completed the comeback by scoring the winner, just as he did when the sides met in the final of Euro 2024.
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Defeat means England have won just six of their last 16 matches against opponents ranked in FIFA’s top 10. “I was not in charge for these 16 matches, for sure not, and I think we did everything today to beat Spain,” said Tuchel. “Details matter on this kind of level. Like I said, the amount of clear-cut mistakes was too high on our side today, unfortunately, and in the last 20 metres they were more composed and more clinical to convert our ball-losses into clear-cut chances.”
Tuchel was seeking a response to silence his critics for a series of defensive-minded substitutions as England also surrendered a lead to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals. This time there was no lack of ambition in a wildly open encounter, but Tuchel conceded that England are still not able to produce consistently for 90 minutes. “We will keep on pushing this team,” added Tuchel. “We proved it at the World Cup that we are capable to do it in tournaments. Today we cannot prove it in the result, but I think the way we played was enough to beat them.”
England now face a double header against the Czech Republic either side of a trip to Croatia over the next 10 days.
© 2024 AFP
