England spent all week telling us why they can’t keep the ball like Spain. We weren’t taught that way. We don’t have the players. It’s not in our DNA. As if to drill home the point, Marc Guehi got lost on the edge of his own box like a scout staring at a broken compass, and Lamine Yamal punished him.
Two minutes gone, 1-0 down to the world champions, and at that moment everyone inside Wembley Stadium thought the same thing. Here comes a Spanish onslaught of short passing, an exhibition in keeping the ball, a tiki-taka masterclass straight from the pages of Pep Confidential. We have seen this movie before, and it ends with exhausted Englishmen chasing shadows.
