ENGLAND 2 SPAIN 2

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM

In a highly entertaining friendly match in which England looked like beating Spain, they gave away two late goals due to some naïve defending when they could have just simply kept possession.  What looked like being a positive result for England ended on a downer as England’s old problems came to the fore.  One of the golden rues of football in international football is to keep possession.

England started on the front foot against Spain and did not let them settle down. Their instant reward came in the 8^th minute when Jose Reina who is no stranger to these shores upended Jamie Vardy.  The referee awarded a penalty, which was calmly dispatched by Adam Lallana to give England the lead.  This looked like a different England side as they showed some discipline and pressed the Spanish high up.  They were also patient when Spain had the ball and hardly dived in.   England led 1-0 at the break

In the second half England carried on from where they left off and within three minutes of the restart Jordan Henderson floated a cross to the back post where Vardy  was waiting with a thumping header to double England’s lead.  It should have been three minutes later as Spain were caught square at the back and Theo Walcott (who replaced the injured Lallana) was one on one with Reina who saved his shot and kept Spain in the game.

Spain were bound to respond at some stage in the game and David Silva nearly got them back into the game as his shot was saved by Joe Hart at hi near post. Just after the hour mark, Jesse Lingard went round Reina and played the ball across the goal but there were no England players in the box to tap the ball home.

Both teams made several changes but England continued to be comfortable.  However with 2 minutes to go Spain reduced the deficit as Iago Aspas got down the right win, into the box and powered a rocket past Tom Heaton to bring hope for Spain.

The Spanish nearly levelled the score as the ball was chested down to Isco in the England area but he fluffed his lines and failed to hit the target.  However Isco was to atone for that miss as he got another chance in stoppage time and calmly stuck the ball between Heaton’s legs to earn a well-deserved draw.  Those were the first goals England have conceded in the Gareth Southgate era in five games. 

England should have seen out the game by passing the ball amongst themselves but when it mattered most they just could not keep possession and a chance of an excellent victory against a side of the calibre of Spain disappeared just like that.  Southgate said:” They now know what the benchmark is and knew what they had to give.  What a brilliant experience this was. ”