STAR PREVIEW: England v Spain

The hope. The glory. The pints flying. Harry Kane’s big smile. Kieran Tripper’s free kick. The euphoria of being able to dance with other people in the street, all of you knowing exactly why. The World Cup was better than possibly imagined for England and now the task for Gareth Southgate’s side is to prove that progress wasn’t a fluke in the new UEFA Nations League.

There’s no better task on paper to measure where England are than Spain, who had a nightmare World Cup that was the opposite to England’s. After a promising performance against Portugal and a tight win against Iran, the wheels began to fall off for Spain, eventually knocked out against Russia on penalties after one of the most lacklustre performances you will see from a side in red.

The drama surrounding now Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui, replaced by Fernando Hierro on the eve of the tournament, did not help matters and now Spain have turned to Luis Enrique. Following three major retirements – Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Gerard Pique – Enrique will be working with a largely new side, given the large amounts of young players who have been waiting on the sidelines. Marcos Alonso and Suso are two names in particular that come to mind but Sergi Roberto, Dani Ceballos and Rodri will all be pushing for places.

This could lead to a much more aggressive style of play compared to the one seen against Russia, which will excite many, although there are still an awful lot of changes to come and it could take time for this side to settle.

England know their formation under Gareth Southgate and ended the World Cup a much stronger side than the one who started it, with their semi-final performance against Croatia a hugely creditable one – even if they could not maintain their great start.

That said, there are changes too for them as Jamie Vardy and Gary Cahill have retired from international football (although they say they would return in case of an injury crisis) and there are a couple of injuries to Nick Pope and centre-back Phil Jones.

England v Spain
UEFA Nations League
Saturday, 19:45 SKY

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
NOV 2016 FRIENDLY England 2-2 Spain
NOV 2015 FRIENDLY Spain 2-0 England
NOV 2011 FRIENDLY England 1-0 Spain
FEB 2009 FRIENDLY Spain 2-0 England
FEB 2007 FRIENDLY England 0-1 Spain
NOV 2004 FRIENDLY Spain 1-0 England
FEB 2001 FRIENDLY England 1-0 Spain
JUN 1996 EURO 1996 England 0-0 Spain
SEP 1992 FRIENDLY Spain 1-0 England
FEB 1987 FRIENDLY Spain 2-4 England

We should still see a 3-2-2-2 side that the players can thrive from and England may be a bit quicker out of the blocks, but this should be a tight game. England drew with Colombia and Croatia at the World Cup in knockouts whilst Spain did the same with Portugal, Morocco and Russia, and the draw could again be a big player.

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