Int Football - Super Spain down plucky England

Eurosport - Thu, 12 Feb 11:08:00 2009

A superior Spain side beat England 2-0 in Seville as David Beckham claimed his 108th cap, equalling the outfield record held by Bobby Moore.

FOOTBALL 2009 - England's David Beckham shakes hands with manager Fabio Capello after their friendly against Spain at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan
in Seville - 0

David Villa opened the scoring on 36 minutes, Xabi Alonso playing the decisive pass after Everton defender Phil Jagielka - making his full debut for the virus-stricken Rio Ferdinand - gave the ball away to the Liverpool ace.

And substitute Fernando Llorente, on for Fernando Torres, headed home a second eight minutes from time following a superb free-kick by midfield dynamo Xavi.

West Ham striker Carlton Cole made his international bow late on and came closest to grabbing a consolation, rounding Liverpool keeper Jose Reina from Beckham's through-ball only to see his goal-bound shot cleared off the line by Carlos Marchena.

The passing and movement which was the hallmark of the home side's Euro 2008 success was again very much in evidence, Barcelona duo Xavi and Andres Iniesta linking with Alonso and Villarreal's deep-lying Marcos Senna, while Valencia goal-getter Villa also dropped off to pick up possession.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez cannot have been too happy to see his star man Torres start the match so soon after an injury, but he came through okay and impressed while not threatening to score.

There was a cracking atmosphere inside Sevilla's sold-out Ramon Sanzhez Pizjuan as the hosts came forward, playing one-touch football and seeking to unlock a compact England unit.

However it was the visitors who had the first chance, Gareth Barry - partnering Michael Carrick in the centre of midfield as he had in the friendly win over Germany in Berlin, with Frank Lampard on the bench - spinning away to cross for Gabriel Agbonlahor.

The Aston Villa striker, chosen in attack with club-mate Emile Heskey, stabbed his volley wide of the near post.

Spain had the ball in the net when the quick-thinking Iniesta played through Villa, but the pocket-sized front-man was a yard offside. Soon afterwards Torres saw a shot deflected into the air before a fortunate David James fluffed his simple catch but got away with it.

Jagielka then gave the ball away and Alonso moved it quickly to a position where he could find the incisive run of Villa, who turned the desperately retreating defender before finding the bottom corner.

England lost their momentum from that point and there were a host of changes at the break, including Beckham, while Reina and Alvaro Arbeloa of Liverpool appeared for Spain.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, who along with Agbonlahor looked good on the break without truly threatening in the first half, had to turn in some sterling defensive work after moving to the left to accommodate Beckham with full-back Sergio Ramos constantly attacking the by-line.

The Manchester City wide-man began a spell of promise for England when Beckham found him down the left channel; he cut inside Ramos and fired a curling shot too close to Reina.

Shortly after Lampard, on for Barry, headed straight at the keeper from an Agbonlahor cross, and until Hammers star Cole's late effort that was as good as it got for England.

Spain made sure of the win in front of their celebrating supporters - the locals were witnessing their 'rootless' national side in the city for the first time in eight years - when Athletic Bilbao striker Llorente rose to thump a header past the reaching fingers of Robert Green, who had appeared at half-time for James.

Beckham, who left his foot in on Gerard Piquet and received a dose of retribution soon after from Arbeloa, was booked for dissent in injury-time.

The defeat ends England manager Fabio Capello's 11-month unbeaten run, while Spain boss Vicente del Bosque continues the good work done by Luis Aragones last summer.

Both sides top their respective World Cup qualifying groups with four wins from four.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 129 - 148 of 188

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  1. Its Liverpool vs Chelsea + MU + Villa

    From c41ng0ku, on Thu 12 Feb 9:29AM
  2. england football team is like england the country!!!!!!­ finished second rate nation,no discipline .no­ respect,no ;aw and order.who cares anymore ?????????

    From cap6662, on Thu 12 Feb 9:27AM
  3. Nick P - Yes Bobby played most of his 108 caps by the­ way, but beckham could of played a lot more if he had­ not been snubbed by Steve McLaren when he took over the­ England job. Plus you can't compare the 2. It is­ considerably more difficult now, as the standard of­ Football at International level overall is a lot better­ than it used to be, back in the day there were only a­ few teams who played well, now you have many countries­ playing well, so games become a lot harder. Give­ Beckham a break, he is probably the most passionate­ England player we have had in a long time...

    From redimaster, on Thu 12 Feb 9:21AM
  4. a team is only as good as the links in the chain. Terry­ was as usual dangerously useless, Hesky fell over­ perfectly ten times and little else, and James in goal­ should have been serving hot dogs in the stands.­ England missed Gerrard badly and it showed. The outcome­ of this match was really Liverpool 2 England has beens­ ZERO (Liverpool - well they had three start players in­ there for Spain)

    From EleanaV, on Thu 12 Feb 9:13AM
  5. I didn't watch the game but followed it on the web,­ unfortunately England lost against what we know is a­ very talented team that doesn't however make­ England a talentless side as some people claim. You­ have to remember the shambles of a Team England was­ just 12 months ago and the humiliation they faced by­ not qualifying for the last Euro, they have completely­ turned themselves around under Fabio and yes there is­ still work to do but they are top of their world cup­ qualifying round, beating Croatia 4-1. The game last­ night was a "friendly" meaning there­ wasn't really anything to fight for, loosing­ against Spain is not like loosing against Lichtenstein,­ Fabio is trying out new players and maybe new tactics.­ Germany on the other hand who came runners up in the­ last Euro cup lost against "Norway" 1-0. So­ lighten my up fellow hearties and have faith. The­ comments about the lack of English talent in the UK is­ some what true however what does this have to do with­ what players get paid? If there’s no English born­ players available then there aren’t any available.

    From Alien Face, on Thu 12 Feb 9:12AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    ye are shocking at rugby..ye are beaten in d soccer..ye­ should stick to yer poxy sport of cricket(posssibly the­ worst sport ever created)..keep losing england haha

    From orange2tuf, on Thu 12 Feb 9:09AM
  7. Beckham was a class act last night, with deft touches­ and great passing. I think England should consider­ itself lucky to have a player that committed to the­ cause. Well done Becks!

    From Leeroy, on Thu 12 Feb 9:05AM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    David go back to the USA dude, its over, i believe all­ he was interested in was the 108 caps and the record,­ not playing to win for England. Bring back Erickson.

    From nqoetshuma, on Thu 12 Feb 9:03AM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Useless English waste of spaces, the lot of them. If­ Beckham had sense (and brains), he would hang up his­ boots NOW, instead of continuing to make a fool of­ himself....infact there are other examples in that so­ called squad who should think of quitting the­ international game and let in those who really want to­ make the country proud of them. Shower of­ shananigans.....every one of them

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 12 Feb 8:49AM
  10. High loudonsmum if you profess to speak on behalf of­ Scotland then I say to you and those that support­ you
    "Sour grapes to you too"
    Old Blue Eyes

    From Me and My Shadow, on Thu 12 Feb 8:47AM
  11. Oh dear, I watch the game they passed to ball to the­ goalkeeper more than to each other. When they did pass­ to each other they lost the ball because spain had two­ players on it. When spain had the ball england just­ sat back and waited as if they had lost the use of­ there legs. Why is Crouch on the team? and why do they­ choose David James as goalkeeper I think its time he­ hung his boots and burns his gloves. Unfortunately ­ when Beckham did curl the ball in there was no one with­ the driving force to deliver.
    England were out classed­ and out played last night. Well done Spain.

    From KATHERINE, on Thu 12 Feb 8:44AM
  12. "Hard luck England" what a divi, they were­ made to look like boys against men.That aside,­ Scotland's big mouth mum, be careful your lot­ didn't play and I don't think you have a great­ deal to shout about, especially being a jock. By the­ way,correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Bobby­ Moore get his 106 caps for playing all of his games,­ not coming on for a cameo appearance. As for Villa fans­ boasting about how many England players they've­ got, the answer is no one else wants them. Heskey­ should get a job as a bed tester, he spends most of his­ time laying down. Must be that tiring Brummie air

    From Nick P, on Thu 12 Feb 8:43AM
  13. i was not suprise, England did all they could but the­ spanish was just too classy for them. it is a leaning,­ i think capello should look at that match critically­ and take a leaning from it, may be next time the result­ will be different. to thinks cos premiership is the­ best in the world and assume england to win the world­ cup might just be like chasing shadow. i wish them the­ best as they try to build a great england team.
    i am­ not england but just concern.

    From Ejehi, on Thu 12 Feb 8:43AM
  14. There are too many foreign players in English Clubs.­ The FA should set a limit fo allowed foreign players,­ this way clubs need to nurture their own homwetown­ talent or maybe English players. This way there­ won't be much gap between rich and not so rich­ clubs. But due to the fact that EPL is all about $$,­ then too bad.

    From c41ng0ku, on Thu 12 Feb 8:42AM
  15. Watched the game last night in Spain...And Spain could­ have moved up another gear and really embarrassed a­ very Un-inspiring talentless English side..I cant­ understand with all the money players get paid in­ england why they cant find a decent team, their are­ many good players but they seem to @#$% out when they­ pull on the national shirt..Fairs fair though you were­ well and truly beaten.

    From greg, on Thu 12 Feb 8:40AM
  16. we only lost 2-0 with our B team,they probably would­ have beaten scotland by at least 20-0. Weaver the king.

    From m.weaver5, on Thu 12 Feb 8:40AM
  17. 1 England dont have a goal keeper
    2 Cant play away from­ home
    3 Always excuses about missing players (Rooney)
    4­ Always complain about foreign players in the ligue
    5­ Never admit that the better team won
    6 Stop playing­ Bekham for the record as we know he's not going to­ the world cup 2010

    From Zak33uk, on Thu 12 Feb 8:36AM
  18. why do you have to switch to wembley cant england win­ away from home?
    even with all their best players­ england will still lose the game by far, Rassia did­ beat them the last time. England cant win away from­ home, so we have to wait till we host the world cup to­ think about winning.
    We have to admit that Spain was by­ far the better team and Beckham should stop playing for­ the record and let someone else as we already know that­ he's not going to the world cup 2010

    From Zak33uk, on Thu 12 Feb 8:28AM
  19. First of all, do yourselves a favour and please,­ please, please stop relating everything to club­ teams...this was an international night of fixtures in­ case any some of you hadn't realised! I'm not­ sure why everyone is so down about this result.­ Remember, Spain are not only the European Champions,­ but currently the No. 1 team in the world and along­ with Brazil and Argentina, will be the favourites for­ the World Cup in South Africa if they keep their­ current crop of players together and playing in such a­ manner. Obviously I was disappointed to see how far­ behind Spain in technical ability, we certainly­ didn't back off and play negative football as we­ used to under certain managers. Yes we have to improve­ to give ourselves a realistic chance at the World Cup­ (as long as we get there :0) but we do have the spine­ to come in, Ferdinand, Gerrard, Rooney plus Walcott and­ also we have to hope that one of the bright young­ keeping talents makes the No. 1 slot his own as James­ has had his time now. Overall though I feel Capello­ does know the task in hand now and has ample time to­ see it through...so heads up, give Spain the credit­ they thoroughly deserve and start backing your nation­ instead of trashing it.

    From neil e, on Thu 12 Feb 8:27AM
  20. Well Done Spain & Bad Luck England, ENGLAND TEAM­ WILL NEVER REACH AS THE 1966 GUTSY TEAM !!!!!!!!!!!

    From Dudley, on Thu 12 Feb 8:21AM
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