England return to action for the first time since the World Cup with a Nations League match against opposition that couldn’t be more challenging.
England couldn’t have asked for tougher opponents in their first match of 2026/27
Given the peculiarly timid manner in which they were eliminated from the World Cup against Argentina in July, there’s a case for saying that England’s first match of the 2026/27 season is more important than it might otherwise have been. The heat has turned up slightly under Thomas Tuchel as a result of the nature of that defeat, and he needs a decent performance in this match, if the pressure under him isn’t to build further.
Spain are their first opponents in Group A3 of the Nations League, and in theory the challenge couldn’t be much greater. Their head coach Luis de la Fuente certainly faces none of the pressures that could be set to build up behind the scenes for England. The visitors haven’t lost to anybody in two and a half years, while their last match saw them lift the World Cup trophy.
This is England and Spain’s first meeting since the Euro 2024 final
Given how strong Spain have been over much of the last two decades, England’s record against them isn’t completely terrible, though it’s been 15 years since they last beat them at Wembley and they’ve only won one of their last five meetings with them.
These two teams met in the first iteration of the Nations League in 2018, and away wins were the order of the day that time around, with Spain winning 2-1 at Wembley in September of that year and England winning 3-2 in Sevilla six weeks later.
Their last meeting came in the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin, when goals from Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal handed Spain a 2-1 and the Henri Delaunay Trophy. In losing this match, England became the first team in the history of the European Championships to lose two consecutive finals.
Fermín López missed the World Cup, but he’s already worked his way back into a brilliant Barcelona starting XI
One of the players who should know his opponents better than anyone else is midfielder Jude Bellingham, who is now up to almost 150 appearances for Real Madrid since his big money move to the Bernabéu from Borussia Dortmund in 2023. Bellingham saw his popularity soar during the World Cup, and he’ll be expected to take a leading role, if England are to find a way through Spain in this match.
One Spain player worth watching who may be back in their team for this match is Barcelona’s Fermín López. He missed the World Cup after fracturing his foot shortly before the start of the tournament, but he’s recovered and has worked his way back into a Barcelona team that is flying at the start of their domestic season. López has recently been subject to speculation that Manchester United could be preparing a £129 million move for him. The international break gives him a valuable opportunity to clear that background noise from his head for a couple of weeks.
Five withdrawals have left Thomas Tuchel needing to reshuffle his midfield plans
There’s something almost traditional about a rash of withdrawals at the very start of an international break, and the Premier League hasn’t let us down this time. Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo, and Tino Livramento have all been withdrawn from the England squad, while Morgan Gibbs-White and James Garner have both received late call-ups.
Spain have made changes from their World Cup squad for their opening Nations League matches, with Inter goalkeeper Josep Martínez, Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen, and Espanyol striker Roberto Fernández joining the squad along with Fermín López. Fernández is of particular interest, having started his season with six goals in seven matches in LaLiga. Joan García (knee), Marcos Llorente (retired from international football), Gavi (precautionary), Pedro Porro (hamstring) and Borja Iglesias (fitness) have all been omitted from the squad.
Spain are a huge challenge for England, but this might not be the worst time to be playing them
The mood surrounding the England team following the World Cup finals has been a peculiar one. On the one hand, there’s nothing ‘disgraceful’ about losing a World Cup semi-final. But on the other, the team’s performances throughout the tournament were patchy at times, and losing to Argentina in such a supine manner calls into question whether they’ll be able to go further, take that final step, and actually win a major tournament. Co-hosting the next Euros means that expectations will be sky-high again in two years’ time, but the evidence that they have the capability to do this remains patchy.
Kicking off their 2026/27 matches against Spain is a huge challenge, but there’s a case for saying that these are the best circumstances to do so. La Roja proved what they needed to prove in the summer, and with this match being at the exact half-way point between being a friendly and a competitive match, their opponents are unlikely to be as fired up for this match as they might have been had they been meeting under just about any other circumstances.
Home advantage helps, though Spain are unbeaten on their last two trips to Wembley, and a desire to stay fit throughout the club season may lead to the players from both teams deciding that going full throttle in this match isn’t the wisest of ideas, especially considering that, with the other two teams in the group being Croatia and Czechia, there are no ‘easy’ games in this Nations League group. A 1-1 draw with no serious injuries on either team would leave everybody feeling that they’ve got through it relatively unscathed.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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