UEFA Nations League: How England rained pain upon Spain by tearing apart their defence in Seville

England vs Spain

Eric Dier gestures to Sergio Ramos during the match , Reuters

In the Oscar-winning classic My Fair Lady, the 1956 American musical film adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, Professor Henry Higgins takes it upon himself to teach Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle how to speak English ‘properly’, so she can pass muster in Edwardian London. In perhaps her best performance, Audrey Hepburn’s Doolittle manages it when she enunciates the phrase ‘the rain in Spain is mostly in the plain’.  More interestingly, in the Spanish version of the film, the phrase is translated as La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla (The rain in Seville is a miracle).

And on Monday night, the English football team pulled off their own mini-miracle in Seville, particularly in the first half, which would’ve made Professor Henry Higgins firmly believe once again in his own ingrained, but completely nonsensical notion, of the superiority of all things English.

After torrential rain threatened to wipe out the UEFA League Nations game between England and Spain in Seville, Southgate’s Doolittles made sure that the pain in Spain was quite plainly in their defence.

At the end of it, the score read 3-2, but the game was all but over in the first half when England went 3-0 up. It was the first time England scored in Spain since 1987, and La Roja’s first competitive defeat on home soil since 2003 against Greece!

The last Englishman to score in Spain before Sterling was Gary Lineker, way back in 1987!

The alacrity with which England’s front three of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford tore apart the back four left incredulous English fans singing: “Are you Scotland in disguise?”  

The mood was set in the 10th minute when Eric Dier, part of three-man midfield along with Winks and Barkley, dispossessed Sergio Ramos, the most reviled man in the Muslim world since Richard the Lionheart, thanks to his tackle on Mohammed Salah in the Champions League final.

Dier was unnecessarily shown a yellow card for a perfectly legitimate tackle – which was neither malicious nor dangerously reckless – and cleanly took the ball. One wonders if that yellow card – there was another for Harry Maguire later in the game – is an indication that FIFA wants football to become a completely non-contact sport.

It was the kind of tackle that was a throwback to the kind of football English teams are supposed to play – no inch given, none taken.

The Spanish defence played with a ridiculously high line which was breached thrice in the first half.

All of England’s goals were so direct – the anti-thesis of the current Brexit negotiations – that it’d warm Nigel Farage’s cockles. Each of them had the majestic Harry Kane as creator and provider, who might not have scored in seven games, but showed how important his hold-up play, selflessness and passing was to the English cause.

Spain’s lack of composure was epitomised in the first goal.  England’s keeper Pickford found Kane with a long ball in his own half, who laid it on for Rashford on the left flank.

The Manchester United forward exploited the high line and found Sterling with a beautiful cross-field pass that Sterling buried, displaying no hints of the nerves that had prevented him from scoring in the last three years.

The second goal also showed Harry Kane’s qualities as he held up the ball despite the close attention of three of Spain’s defenders before finding the run of the marauding Marcus Rashford who nonchalantly put the ball pas this Manchester United teammate David de Gea.

The third was also a goal which espoused the values of direct play as Barkley found Kane in the box who laid it on a platter for Sterling to make the score a remarkable 3-0 on 38 minutes.

In the space of twenty minutes, Sterling doubled his goal tally for England (he had previously scored 2) which also meant that Spain lost their first competitive game at home in 15 years.

The stats showed that Spain had 70% of the ball in the first half and had comfortably out-passed their opponents but failed to breach Pickford’s goal. They did so in the 2nd, Paco Alcácer comfortably heading in before the Spanish armada laid siege without much reward.

Things could’ve gone differently if Spain had got the penalty they felt they rightfully deserved.

Pickford, foolishly trying a Cruyff turn a la Allisson in front of his own goal was dispossessed and brought down Rodrigo, but was lucky not to be given a penalty. Ramos scored with the last kick of the ball, but it was too late by then.

This was the first time that Spain have looked vulnerable since their post-World Cup renaissance where they’ve scored 12 goals in three games including a six-goal hammering of World Cup finalist Croatia.

Spain’s coach Luis Enrique admitted the first half was atrocious, saying he should’ve killed the players. The likes of Thiago, Asensio and Co have some way to go before they can emulate the vintage of their predecessors Xavi, Iniesta and Xabi Alonso.

Ramos had one of his worst performances in a red shirt with Johnny and Nacho looking remarkably out-of-depth when it comes to dealing with the direct running of Rashford and Sterling.

Despite England’s foray into the semi-finals of the World Cup, the critics have pointed out with more than a hint of schadenfreude, that Southgate’s young ones hadn’t beaten an ‘elite’ football team losing their head the moment they met a good one like Croatia or Belgium.

That argument will no longer pass muster and the faithful will believe that like Henry Higgins’ charge, Southgate’s lads have finally ‘got it’. That they can play with confidence even against elite opponents and won’t freeze on the big stage. As for now, the pain is mostly with Luis Enrique and Spain who will have to go back to the drawing board and fix their game plan.