Spain's Wembley Triumph: A Thrilling Nations League Opener Against England

World champions Spain kicked off their Nations League campaign with a victory against England. In their first match since their North American triumph, Luis de la Fuente's team overturned a halftime deficit to win 3-2, extending their unbeaten streak to 39 games.

For the Three Lions and manager Thomas Tuchel, this marked another setback, two months after their World Cup semi-final exit. Wembley's unfortunate figure of the evening was none other than Harry Kane.

Lamine Yamal put Spain ahead early in the rematch of the 2024 European Championship final, capitalizing on a significant error by England's center-back Marc Guéhi. Yamal scored a historic early goal in the 2nd minute. England then responded with a quick brace from Anthony Gordon in the 36th minute and Kane in the 40th, disrupting Spain's initial dominance.

After the break, Kane missed a golden opportunity from a penalty kick. Immediately after, Spain's substitutes Alex Baena (60th minute) and Mikel Oyarzabal (74th minute) struck decisively.

England's Performance Against Spain

"I've said before that we reached a good level at the World Cup but didn't perform consistently for the full 90 minutes. Today was probably similar," Kane commented. "We had some good moments, though; that phase was as strong as we've seen in a long time, and that's the standard we can reach."

The Bayern striker felt England was "absolutely on par," overlooking that the visitors were far more dangerous in front of goal than the home side. Ferran Torres alone could have scored at least once from his excellent chances in the first half.

According to various metrics, Spain's expected goals (xG) were around 3, while England's, excluding the penalty, was less than 1. Torres, substituted in the 55th minute, surpassed England's xG figure on his own.

Harry Kane's Penalty Miss

Tuchel surprisingly opted for James Trafford in goal over Jordan Pickford. The 23-year-old from Leeds United made a crucial save against Torres in the 16th minute. After England took the lead, Spain's Marc Cucurella struck the post with what appeared to be a cross in the 45th minute.

Kane slipped on his standing foot during his penalty, and the ball hit the crossbar. The goal would have been disallowed anyway due to a double touch.

On the other side, Dani Olmo intercepted a misplaced pass from Nico O'Reilly, and Baena calmly finished. Shortly after, Oyarzabal scored the deserved winning goal for Spain following a superb combination, with Atletico's Baena providing the assist. In the 83rd minute, Tuchel surprisingly substituted Kane.

Croatia and Switzerland's Opening Matches

In the parallel Group A3 match, Croatia won 2-1 (0-0) away against Czechia in coach Slaven Bilic's return. Veteran captain Luka Modric scored after an assist from Igor Matanovic (47th minute), and Marco Pasalic added another in the 77th minute for the Croats. Former Hamburg player Adam Karabec, who had made a mistake before the first goal, scored the interim equalizer (54th minute).

In a lower division, Switzerland began Group B1 with a 3-0 (2-0) victory in North Macedonia, thanks to goals from Remo Freuler (22nd minute) and Zeki Amdouni (41st/74th minute). No goals were scored between Slovenia and Scotland.