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09/26 16:40 CDT World Cup winner Spain survives scare to beat England 3-2 in
Nations League
World Cup winner Spain survives scare to beat England 3-2 in Nations League
By JAMES ROBSON
AP Soccer Writer
World Cup winner Spain extended its unbeaten run to 39 games by rallying to a
3-2 win against England in the Nations League on Saturday.
Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal came back to haunt England with his 74th-minute
winner at Wembley.
Oyarzabal also scored the winning goal when Spain beat England in the final of
the European Championship in 2024. On this occasion he calmly chipped
goalkeeper James Trafford from close range to complete the world champion's
comeback after trailing 2-1 at halftime.
England was punished for missing a penalty --- to go 3-1 ahead --- and for
mistakes that led to Spain's first two goals.
"We couldn't unfortunately convert the penalty, that may have been the decisive
moment because I think then Spain would have maybe for the first time believed
that their long run of unbeaten games ends here," England coach Thomas Tuchel
told broadcaster ITV Sport. "The third goal, I think, was the only goal that
they really scored. The other ones there were too many individual big mistakes."
In Spain's first game since beating Argentina in the World Cup final, its
long-running unbeaten streak was put under serious threat. But Luis de la
Fuente's team responded like champions to make a winning start to its Nations
League campaign.
Lamine Yamal got Spain off to a flying start, needing less than two minutes to
score when he dispossessed England defender Marc Guehi and fired low past
Trafford into the far corner.
Spain dominated the chances and the scorer of the winning goal in the World Cup
final, Ferran Torres, twice failed to make the most of opportunities when
through on goal.
After surviving those scares England leveled through Antony Gordon after a
swift breakaway in the 36th, combining with Jude Bellingham and sliding a low
shot past Unai Simon.
England went ahead only four minutes later through Kane, whose header deflected
off Marc Cucurella.
Early in the second half England had the chance to extend its lead when Rodri
brought down Kane in the box and after VAR review was awarded a penalty. But
Spain was let off the hook when Kane slipped during his run.
That miss proved even more costly when, on the hour, substitute Alex Baena
curled a low shot into the corner to level the game again, with Nico O'Reilly
guilty of losing the ball close to goal. Spain completed its comeback as
Oyarzabal coolly converted from Baena's assist.
"We had a terrible start, the worst start possible. It makes it so difficult to
be behind against this kind of team," Tuchel said. "There will always be
moments where you suffer against a team like this, the details matter. It
matters that you take your chances and you reduce the decisive mistakes. This
was not in our favor today."
Modric's enduring class
Even at the age of 41, Luka Modric is still delivering for Croatia.
The veteran midfielder scored his nation's opening goal in a 2-1 win away to
Czech Republic.
Spain tops Group A3 ahead of Croatia on goals scored.
New Scotland coach Sebastien Pocognoli started with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia.
Zeki Amdouni scored two goals in Switzerland's 3-0 win away to North Macedonia,
and Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat trick as Finland routed bottom-ranked San
Marino 7-0.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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See AP's full soccer coverage here
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