Dean Huijsen revived an old tradition here. When was the last time you saw a footballer not just swap shirts with his opponent but immediately put it on too? As the final whistle went, the Bournemouth defender who was born in Amsterdam but represents Spain where he was raised, made straight for Samuel Iling-Junior who, like him, had played at Juventus. He moved like a young man on a mission, which it turned out he was. They embraced and when Huijsen finally walked off he was wearing white, a No 14 on the back.
It had been that kind of night, a familiarity and a sort of mutual admiration about the place, something of themselves seen in each other. Something shared, and not just, as it turned out, the scoreline. At the end, ball boys holding camera phones had run on seeking out Jobe Bellingham, who had played over an hour on his U21 debut, while players from each side made their way towards familiar faces, of which there were many. This was a friendly that was, well, friendly.
For Mateo Joseph especially. When he was a kid and summer tournaments came round, there would be two flags hung on the balcony at his home in Santander: one England, one Spain. He had played for England at the U20 World Cup; five of his opponents here were former teammates, staff all people he knew. And it was not just him: under the stand a big group gathered, more shirts exchanged; some time later, they were still there, talking. About everything really, not only football, and not just because the actual match had finished 0-0.
These are the European Champions at U21 and senior level; in 2023 England had beaten Spain in the final, in 2024 Spain had beaten England. Here they met for the first time since Berlin, the first at U21 level since that final in Batumi, Georgia. This time it was set up as preparation for the Euros in the summer, another chance to learn from each other, so maybe it didn’t matter. And maybe that helped too.
That night, a Curtis Jones goal won it along with a late, late penalty save from James Trafford. It had been tense, there had been confrontations. This week there was even talk of revenge in Spain but it wasn’t personal and ultimately it lacked any edge: of the men there then, only the Spain coach Santi Denia was left. Everyone else had moved on; mostly, they had moved upwards. And that is the point. This could be seen not as a story in its own right, but as part of a process.
They had chosen quite the venue for it: the 9,500-capacity Municipal de La Línea de la Concepción, home of Real Balompédica Linense, where Jack Harper is top scorer, is as near to Britain as it is possible to get. La Línea – the Line – is the frontier town, separated from Gibraltar by the airport runway where no Spanish flights land. The rock rises over the stands on one side. On the other, the straits, tankards going by, wind whipping in, waves crashing.
On the pitch, this time there was nothing to separate the two countries on either side of that runway. Well, there was: the crossbar, for a start. In the last minute, Hugo Bueno had rattled that, but there had been no winner, not this time. Only Spain were ever likely to be. “I’m happy but not entirely because the shot didn’t go in,” Joseph said afterwards. “A couple of times it went right through the area which was annoying. We were closer than them.”
He was not wrong: the approach play was occasionally superb from wide positions and he was the intended beneficiary, close often. Three sort-of chances came from a combined seven or eight yards, but each time the opportunity, and the ball, was just out of reach. James Beadle made one superb low save and later even than Bueno’s shot, Pablo Torre headed just wide, which seemed to sum things up. Spain had taken 17 shots to England’s six. None of those taken by Ben Futcher’s side were on target.
Which is not to say that Lee Carsley is coming back to something barren, far from it. Not least because he knows there are other players who are likely to return if only, he will hope, temporarily. Noni Madueke, Morgan Rogers, Lewis Hall, Curtis Jones, Anthony Gordon, Rico Lewis, Morgan Gibbs-White have all worked with him at this level and, now, senior level too. Injury played a part but it is not chance: it is a plan, a commitment.
Carsley had said that England could learn from Spain. Which is why they were here of course, why this friendly was worthwhile, but it went deeper: this is more about the process, the continuity, that line that connects U21s and seniors, represented by the coaches as well as the players. And that is already underway, even if Carsley’s decision to step down might suggest that it is broken. Spain, the country that do this best, see much that is good in their opponents too.
“From my point of view, the English are working very well – very, very well,” Denia insisted here. “They have won at U17, U21 level. They are giving chances to young players. In this current England senior squad, they have five or six players who were part of this U21 team. That’s like what we do: invest, gives coaches the tools. These are two teams that historically play very well – with different identities but England have very, very good quality too – and in my opinion the English FA works wonderfully.”
If England wanted to come to play Spain, the feeling here in the shadow of the rock was mutual. They’re not so different; as they departed here, they were even wearing the same shirts.
