At Wembley, where England’s Nations League campaign opened against the European champions, Thomas Tuchel found consolation in his side’s response but frustration in the details that decided a 3-2 loss to Spain. The hosts recovered from an alarming start, briefly turning the match around, yet missed the chance to move 3-1 ahead when Harry Kane failed to convert a penalty.
Spain struck in the second minute through Lamine Yamal after a costly Marc Guéhi error, a beginning Tuchel described as the worst possible against opponents of such quality. “Going behind so early against a team like this makes everything far harder,” the England manager said. His team did fight back, scoring twice and enjoying what he considered their strongest 15-minute spell after half-time, but Spain eventually left London with their unbeaten sequence extended to 39 matches.
Fine margins at Wembley
Tuchel felt England had the better of much of the contest despite conceding clear chances. He praised the reaction to the opening setback and said his players controlled broad stretches of the match, while accepting that major errors shaped the outcome. In his view, the equaliser at 2-2 came from another serious England mistake, while Spain’s winning goal was the visitors’ only genuinely worked move.
“Those are the moments we have to learn from,” Tuchel said. “We must take the good elements with us and win back the points against the Czech Republic.” England will travel to Prague for their second Group 3 fixture in League A.
The German also singled out Anthony Gordon’s goal as an outstanding transition, and believed England could have created still more if their final actions in the attacking third had been cleaner. He pointed to the volume of recoveries made high up the pitch, saying England won between 12 and 15 more balls than Spain in the opposition half.
That pressing effort, he said, reflected the courage and commitment of the side, but it did not produce enough chances or goals. “If we had turned more of those recoveries into opportunities, we would have won,” Tuchel said. He accepted that suffering spells is inevitable against Spain, but argued that elite-level matches turn on taking decisive chances and avoiding decisive mistakes. The scoreline did not reward England, he concluded, though several passages of their performance offered real encouragement.
