‘A devastating symphony’, said El Pais; ‘Spain ran Turkey over’, crowed El Mundo; ‘It’s not possible to play football better than this,’ was ماركا‘s reaction; مثل said it was ‘Like watching a video game’.
Contrast the justifiably gushing praise of the بطولة أوروبا winners’ latest performance with that of the team they beat in the final in Berlin little more than a year ago. ‘Joyless’ was صحيفة التايمز‘ verdict from إنجلترا‘s drab win over Andorra; ‘Turgid’ was the description from the BBC;صحيفة الغارديان described the 2-0 victory as a ‘trudge’; ‘Dire’ was the assessment in صحيفة التلغراف.
The difference in opponents was also stark. While not exactly world beaters, Turkey are ranked 27th in the world and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. Andorra are ranked 174th in the world and have only won seven competitive matches in their history. Spain, it should be added, were playing in a hostile atmosphere on the road in Konya while England were at home, albeit not at Wembley but rather Villa Park.
Spain’s exhibition on Sunday has solidified their status as favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, and while England are still third on that list, there is a chasm between the Three Lions and Luis de la Fuente’s free-scoring side, as well as the other teams to beat such as فرنسا, Argentina and Portugal. That does not reflect well on Thomas Tuchel, who has been brought in on a short-term contract and at great expense with one mission only: to lead England to glory next July at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
To be fair to Tuchel, his team have not had to raise their game in any of their four World Cup qualifiers thus far and he has still managed a 100 percent record in competitive games. But now comes the first true test of his mettle, an intimidating game against Serbia in Belgrade, and his side better rise to the challenge.
‘A devastating symphony’, said El Pais; ‘Spain ran Turkey over’, crowed El Mundo; ‘It’s not possible to play football better than this,’ was ماركا‘s reaction; مثل said it was ‘Like watching a video game’.
Contrast the justifiably gushing praise of the European Championship winners’ latest performance with that of the team they beat in the final in Berlin little more than a year ago. ‘Joyless’ was صحيفة التايمز‘ verdict from England’s drab win over Andorra; ‘Turgid’ was the description from the BBC; صحيفة الغارديان described the 2-0 victory as a ‘trudge’; ‘Dire’ was the assessment in صحيفة التلغراف.
The difference in opponents was also stark. While not exactly world beaters, Turkey are ranked 27th in the world and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. Andorra are ranked 174th in the world and have only won seven competitive matches in their history. Spain, it should be added, were playing in a hostile atmosphere on the road in Konya while England were at home, albeit not at Wembley but rather Villa Park.
Spain’s exhibition on Sunday has solidified their status as favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, and while England are still third on that list, there is a chasm between the Three Lions and Luis de la Fuente’s free-scoring side, as well as the other teams to beat such as France, Argentina and Portugal. That does not reflect well on Thomas Tuchel, who has been brought in on a short-term contract and at great expense with one mission only: to lead England to glory next July at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
To be fair to Tuchel, his team have not had to raise their game in any of their four World Cup qualifiers thus far and he has still managed a 100 percent record in competitive games. But now comes the first true test of his mettle, an intimidating game against Serbia in Belgrade, and his side better rise to the challenge.
The different trajectories Spain and England have taken since the Euros final call into question the Football Association’s (FA) decision to appoint a hired gun from the outside such as Tuchel rather than a culture builder who knows the national game inside out, as La Roja have done with Luis de La Fuente.
The Spain coach’s background is strikingly similar to those of both Tuchel’s predecessor Gareth Southgate and interim boss Lee Carsley. De La Fuente has been working for the Spanish football federation since 2013, coaching the Under-19s, Under-21s and the Olympic team before taking the senior reins from Luis Enrique – initially to much criticism – after Spain had bombed out of the 2022 World Cup to المغرب in the last 16.
De La Fuente won the U19 European Championship in 2015 with a team containing current players Unai Simon, رودري, and the hat-trick hero from the Turkey win, Mikel Merino, as well as Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos. Four years later, he did the same with the U21s, with some overlap from his U19s team but also fresh faces who are now key players in his senior squad such as Dani Olmo, Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Oyarzabal (the scorer of the winner in the Euro 2024 final).
At the Olympics in Tokyo, Spain reached the final before losing to Brazil, and De la Fuente got to work with Marc Cucurella, Martin Zubimendi and Pedri, who all played their part in the drubbing of Turkey. And since leaving the youth set-up and becoming coach of the senior side, De La Fuente has continued to hand huge responsibility to young players such as Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Dean Huijsen, and has been rewarded for it, winning the 2023 Nations League before securing the Euros title.
De La Fuente not only knows the players inside out, he is also extremely clear on the style of football Spain should be playing. That comes with 12 years working at the federation’s headquarters, while Spain’s style is so defined that he barely has to enforce it.
He is mostly loyal to the positional play that was perfected by Vicente del Bosque’s side that contained Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta. The performance against Turkey, in particular the sublime second goal scored by Merino, was very reminiscent of the great Spain side that dominated world football between 2008 and 2012.
And yet De la Fuente is not as dogmatic as previous coaches and is ready to adapt to circumstances. As he explained during Euro 2024: “My idea is to play games to win them, independently of how we play. There are times when you have to take the initiative and others when you have to know how to play with other resources.”
De La Fuente also differs from Del Bosque and Luis Aragones in choosing from a much larger pool than that iconic team, which was mostly comprised of players from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Eleven clubs were represented by the starting XI and substitutes on Sunday, from the usual suspects Barca and Madrid to Tottenham and Rayo Vallecano.
Tuchel has taken a different approach, leaning more towards experienced players than the next generation. Yes, Myles Lewis-Skelley was a bold call-up earlier this year and Elliot Anderson made his debut against Andorra, but there have also been some strange inclusions such as الأردن Henderson, Marcus Rashford and, above all, the return of Ruben Loftus-Cheek. In other words, players whose best days are firmly in the past.
The fact that Tuchel may only be around until the World Cup easily explains this short-term view, but it is counter-productive to England’s long-term health as a footballing nation. His appointment effectively tore up everything that the FA looked to have been building towards under Southgate.
Southgate had reached the end of the road for England after eight years in charge and he as much as anyone else wanted a break. But turning to Tuchel instead of Carsley sent out a message that all that matters is short-term glory, above all winning the World Cup. Going all the way in the United States, المكسيك و كندا is of course what every fan wants as well. Children dream of lifting the World Cup, not of streamlined strategies at St George’s Park.
However, the fact that England are struggling to click under Tuchel, nine months into his reign and in the middle of his third camp, is concerning. There is no sign of a clear style of play and it was telling that after the Andorra game he told journalists how important long balls and long throw-ins would be to his team at the World Cup.
The coach is also not delivering on many of the promises he has made since he got the job. Before his opening game against Albania, Tuchel criticised England’s performances for most of their run to the Euro 2024 final, lamenting the lack of identity.
“Not last summer, no [they didn’t have a clear playing style]. The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns, the freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger [was missing],” he explained to آي تي في. “They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament in my observation than having the excitement and hunger to win it. What has been missing is the people feel that that is the team to beat. That we arrive with a group to beat. That we know already when we arrive, once we qualify and arrive that everyone knows this is the team to beat.”
But Tuchel’s England side do not like the team to beat at all right now. They have made hard work of beating some of the lowest-ranked teams in the world and suffered an embarrassing friendly defeat to السنغال in June. The German’s team have scored nine goals in their five games thus far despite playing against minnows such as Andorra, Latvia and Albania.
England are well on course to make it to the World Cup, but they are not inspiring their own fans or making any other sides too concerned. Tuchel is yet to justify his £5m-a-year salary and his main excuse has been that the teams he has faced so far have sat deep in low-blocks and given them little space to work with.
He seemed to be getting that excuse in early ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Serbia, too, when he warned: “We will face the same formation as against Andorra – the defensive block of 5-4-1 with individual quality up front with tall physical strikers.”
Dusan Vlahovic, Luka Jovic and familiar face Aleksandar Mitrovic are the strikers who will put England’s defence under much more pressure than they faced against Andorra, when Jordan Pickford didn’t have to make a single save.
But there can be no excuse for England not rising to the challenge. Serbia will arguably be the best team they have faced since Euro 2024 and are their main rivals for finishing top of the group and automatically booking their spot at the World Cup.
A draw would in theory be a good result and maintain the five-point gap over Serbia, who do still have a game in hand. But given Tuchel’s remit, and England’s ambition to win the World Cup, a victory must be demanded. And a convincing one at that.
Serbia are ranked 32nd in the world, five places below Turkey. And if England want to rival Spain as the main contenders next summer, then they must follow La Roja’s lead and lay down a marker of their own. Tuchel has already said the time for experiments is over; so is the time for excuses.
