Int Football - Spain-England: Reaction

Eurosport - Thu, 12 Feb 13:00:00 2009

We take a look at what the press made of England's 2-0 defeat to European champions Spain, their second defeat under Fabio Capello.

FOOTBALL España-Inglaterra Spain-England / Foto EFE - 0

Steven Howard - The Sun: "David Beckham sat on the bench and watched a familiar story unfold in front of him. England being out-thought and out-manoeuvred by a side thinking a couple of seconds faster than them.

"Spain, now the world's No 1 side, were as good as we remembered at Euro 2008. If anything even better, with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Xabi Alonso untouchable in midfield, threading together a rich tapestry of passing movements to which Fabio Capello's team at times had no answer."

Martin Lipton - Daily Mirror: "After the euphoria, the reality, a harsh lesson in how far England still have to travel to even come close to the Promised Land.

"Fabio Capello, though, probably knew it would come when he asked for a fixture against the best team on the planet. Maybe he even wanted his men to taste some more bitter medicine after supping the nectar of victories over the past few months.

"England certainly deserved to lose, with the fatal wounds inflicted by David Villa's quicksilver brilliance and a towering late header from Fernando Llorente."

Kevin McCarra - The Guardian: "It was an elementary win for Spain and that will not shock Fabio Capello. This was the second defeat under the Italian and the other, against France, had also seen his side unable to score.

"With Rio Ferdinand ruled out by a stomach upset, it was instructive that Phil Jagielka's outstanding form for Everton should be recognised as he filled the vacancy. His candidacy, of course, was underpinned by recent domination of Liverpool's Spain centre-forward Fernando Torres at club level. Unfortunately, he was not pitted solely against a Merseyside rival. Jagielka was at fault when England fell behind but he was the victim of David Villa's compelling artistry and cannot be regarded as a mistaken selection."

Tony Cascarino - The Times: "There is no point Capello wringing his hands and wishing Emile Heskey and Gabriel Agbonlahor had the technique of Torres and Villa. England can be successful even against opponents with more individual talent. There is a point to him worrying about a tendency to give away the ball needlessly, which cost England yesterday. Picking players who are liable to make mistakes is asking for trouble.

"England were very comfortable for the first 15 or 20 minutes, but a couple of senseless errors later they found themselves under sustained pressure. Keep giving the ball to Spain and you won't get it back easily. Then you're chasing shadows, becoming more desperate, taking risks and making more mistakes. And then you're cannon fodder, liable to be ripped to pieces."

Henry Winter - Daily Telegraph: "England were outclassed. Just as Villa eclipsed Agbonlahor and Heskey, rapier proving more effective than broadsword, so Spain's midfield were almost embarrassingly superior to their counterparts in white.

"This was a chastening evening for the English, placing all the talk in certain quarters of strolling to World Cup glory in its proper perspective. Fabio Capello's England remain a work in progress. Before a crowing Andalusian audience, England were given a lesson in the art of possession by Xavi, in the art of finishing by Villa and Llorente, and in the art of keeping their discipline."

Neil Ashton - Daily Mail: "David Beckham was foolishly booked for dissent as he equalled Bobby Moore's outfield record of 108 caps and England were exposed by Euro 2008 champions Spain. It was Beckham's 17th yellow card which, along with two reds, amounts to England's worst disciplinary record.

"Barcelona midfielder Xavi ran the show for Spain, retaining possession and then opening up the England defence whenever Villa and Fernando Torres were on the move."

Eurosport

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  1. England just don`t have the classy players. Most of the­ premiership players are made up of foreign players with­ good classy ball-control.
    But I`ll stick with­ them.
    C`mon England, "cry havoc, and loose the­ dogs of war" :-)

    From Bobby Robson A Legend, on Sat 14 Feb 3:49PM

  2. GLORY GLORY GLORY ENGLAND WE ARE THE BEST JUST WE ...

    From feedback ., on Thu 12 Feb 11:48PM

  3. England were outclassed, as usual. It's always the­ same when they face the real opposition. Having said­ that, how one can claim that Spain is not the­ world's number one is a riddle to me as Euro 2008­ is the only thing they have ever won. Aside from this,­ they are underachievers a lot of the time. Reality­ shall bite them in the behind in South Africa....just­ wait amigos

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 12 Feb 9:18PM

  4. i think we can all see that spain are the golden team­ in europe at the minute with england a long way behind.­ even saying stewart downing played for england makes me­ laugh, the guy couldnt control his bladder nevermind a­ football, what a waste of time. and people sayin well­ rooney and gerrard and co were missin, like it would­ have made a difference. be honest which spanish player­ would ya take out the team to replace with an english­ player. none if ya bein honest. technically we are­ years behind, every time we got a pass we looked­ panicked and hadnt thought what to do with it before it­ had arrived at our feet so it was just hoof it and all­ run after it then start chasing shadows again. im not­ slagging england off but we have to know our level ,­ and sadly this is not it. the rest of the world seems­ to have evolved and adapted but we seem the same old­ team.

    From james g, on Thu 12 Feb 8:44PM

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    From hottestgal, on Thu 12 Feb 5:09PM

  6. Hey, I'm an open minded girl from US, I'm­ interested in exotic things, photography, dating and­ sports...I have my photos on --- Tallhub Co m ---, I­ love tall guys!
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    From reijimile08, on Thu 12 Feb 5:04PM

  7. The scots might be good football managers but they­ can't run a country!

    From Dave, on Thu 12 Feb 2:45PM

  8. damochy2uk: i agree with u.

    From chibikeegbue, on Thu 12 Feb 2:25PM

  9. Good learning experience. its only took several years­ to realise downings useless.yes spain are awesome at­ the moment. but if we have some of our top players­ missing, the likes of gerrard, rooney, j cole, owen and­ ferdinand surely we should be playing the players who­ are in form and deserve a chance to impress, not­ crouch, james, downing, glen johnson. Surely Ashley­ young should have played,and i think anyone could have­ played better than glen johnson....even the mighty­ Titus bramble...says alot

    From jamiecauston, on Thu 12 Feb 2:14PM

  10. All the responses on this topic typifies all that is­ wrong with the English. How do you expect a team in­ transition to play against an established team who are­ champion of Europe and most possibly the best team in­ the world.Unrealistic expectations and overnight­ success has always been the bane of the england­ football fans. Fine they played you guys off the park­ but how many first team players are they missing and­ how many are you guys missing? You have like 5 top­ class players missing and the team was mainly­ experimental and yet you expect to win against a team­ that has been playing together for almost 2 years,­ totally unrealistic if you ask me. And yes england keep­ lumping the ball forward from the back and yes they­ could not string passes toghether but am dead sure­ there are a lot of positives to be taken from the­ match. Just shup your bob and give them some time to­ gel and they you lot can have a go if they are still­ messing up then

    From damola, on Thu 12 Feb 2:00PM

  11. A friendly with players being tried against a strong­ Spanish side who are the best in Europe and possible­ top three in the world. So we lost a friendly. ­ Capello will have learnt much from it as would some of­ the fringe players. A good learning experience. Why­ do we always bemoan our national side regardless of the­ performance. Rather to lose and learn in a friendly­ that an important qualifier match.

    From Allen H, on Thu 12 Feb 1:54PM

  12. James 5, Johnson 5, Terry 6,Jagielka 5, cole 5, swp­ 6.5, carrick 5, barry 6, downing 3, heskey 6,Agbonlahor­ 5, Lampard 5, Crouch 3, Upson 5, Green 6, C Cole 5,­ Beckham 6. I'd say the player most missed was­ Walcott. I suppose Crouch plays because we don't­ have any other options but why does Downing play when­ we have Lennon, Milner and A Young?

    From blaisepercybysshe, on Thu 12 Feb 1:44PM

  13. no point moaning about Crouch and the forwards being­ poor, hasn't anyone realised just how pathetic­ James, for Pompey and England, and the defence are.

    From Ian, on Thu 12 Feb 1:42PM

  14. england just has to congretulate spain for a great­ performance dats ti and stop complaining who was and­ who wasnt there.

    From mpho s, on Thu 12 Feb 1:39PM

  15. NO WONDER CHELSEA ARE DOING NO GOOD,­ A-COLE/J-TERRY/F-LAMPARD = ABSOLUTE S**T AS @#$% !

    From keithrtustin, on Thu 12 Feb 1:31PM

  16. This is a friendly game and spain is not a world best­ team. When Rio, Gerade and Rooney
    come back it will be­ a different story.

    From Augustine, on Thu 12 Feb 1:29PM

  17. England, missing 4 key figures (Ferdinand, Gerrard,­ Rooney, Joe Cole) and still without a good Goalkeeper­ and a Right back, lost to the 2nd best team in the­ World (After Brazil) in Spain. A good learning­ experience. Enough said!

    From David, on Thu 12 Feb 1:28PM

  18. Banking Industry- paid a fortune to fail. English­ footballers- paid a fortune to fail. England still have­ this belief that they are the best team in the world­ and should be winning the tournaments they enter. They­ have a squad of overpaid prima donnas who are helped to­ look better than they actually are by the quality­ foreign players that play alongside them in the­ Premiership. Only decent player you've had in years­ was Paul Scholes, but because he's small, ugly and­ ginger and you kept him in Beckham's shadow.­ Shame.Scottish managers have been showing you how to do­ it domestically as well(no Ferguson will never manage­ England), once he's gone, O'Neill will be­ showing you all how it's done, or will Harry­ Redknapp shine? Support Scotland, we love small, ugly,­ ginger people, we dont kid ourself on we're­ anything special and you'll always hear us singing­ when we're coming down the road. ALBA GU BRATH

    From Ruaraidh, on Thu 12 Feb 1:17PM

  19. wo0o0o0o0o0ow!!!!!!!!!!
    yeah..........
    this is the­ power of spain!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    well done guys!i­ lo0o0o0o0ove you!!!!!!
    you are the champion­ forever!!!!!!!!!

    From golnoush, on Thu 12 Feb 1:10PM

  20. no ashley cole? what the hell is heskey and johnson­ doing in an england team? shocking

    From neil_whiting2001, on Thu 12 Feb 1:03PM
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