Mikel Oyarzabal gave world champions Spain a 3-2 victory over error-prone England in the Nations League on Saturday as Luka Modric helped Croatia beat the Czech Republic 2-1. Oyarzabal struck 16 minutes from time in an entertaining back-and-forth contest in which England captain Harry Kane missed a penalty. Victory at Wembley in Nations League A, Group 3 extended Spain’s unbeaten run to 39 matches and prolonged England’s difficulties against the world’s top teams.
“This team is very ambitious and doesn’t want to stop winning,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente told Teledeporte.
Oyarzabal was also the match-winner two years ago when Spain beat England in the European Championship final. “I thought it was a great game to watch and to play in, some of the attacking play was at the highest level. Remo Freuler and a Zeki Amdouni brace gave Switzerland a 3-0 win in North Macedonia to top Nations League B, Group 1 as Slovenia and Scotland drew 0-0 in the other match. In Nations League C, captain Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat-trick as Finland crushed San Marino, whose captain Alessandro Golinucci was sent off, 7-0 in Serravalle. In other League C matches Albania beat Belarus 2-0, Slovakia defeated Moldova by the same score and Luxembourg won 2-1 away to Bulgaria.
“I think it was a bit of a missed chance,” England goalscorer Anthony Gordon told ITV Sport.
