Kane’s painful miss costs England dearly in a true cracker against Spain
England lost a thrilling Nations League match 3-2 to Spain on Saturday evening. Thomas Tuchel's side turned an early deficit into a 2-1 lead at Wembley, but the world champions hit back in the second half through Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal. Before those two Spanish goals, Harry Kane missed from the penalty spot with a rare failure to score England's third.
Tuchel sprang a surprise before kick-off by picking James Trafford ahead of Jordan Pickford and using Jarell Quansah at right-back instead of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Myles Lewis-Skelly started alongside Elliot Anderson in midfield. Spain lost Eric García to injury shortly before kick-off and sent on Marc Pubill in his place.
Spain made the perfect start. England's Marc Guéhi dwelt on the ball in the second minute, allowing Lamine Yamal to nick it off him and calmly slot past Trafford for 0-1. Ferran Torres then thought he had doubled the lead, only for his goal to be ruled out for offside.
England recovered, though Spain kept creating the better chances. Trafford kept Ferran out with his foot after 16 minutes to stop it becoming 0-2. The striker then raced through again soon after, but dragged wide and wasted a huge chance. Dani Olmo also went close after fine work from Yamal in the build-up.
Then England struck against the run of play in the 37th minute. Anderson won the ball and Anthony Gordon and Jude Bellingham drove a quick counter, with Gordon applying the finish. Four minutes later, Kane headed in a cross from Nico O'Reilly via a strangely miskicked block by Marc Cucurella to make it 2-1.
After the break, England had a big chance to pull away. Following a VAR intervention, Bellingham won a penalty after a foul by Rodri, but Kane slipped slightly and smashed his effort against the crossbar. The captain had passed up the chance to make it 3-1.
That miss cost England. Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal came on and, soon after, Spain punished a loss of possession by O'Reilly. Olmo found Baena, who rifled in the 2-2 from the edge of the penalty area.
Bukayo Saka then went close to restoring England's lead, but the winner arrived at the other end. In the 74th minute, Baena slipped Oyarzabal through the England defence and the substitute delicately lifted the ball over Trafford for 2-3. England could not recover and lost their first Nations League group match to the world champions.
