England and Spain play out an open Nations League opener at Wembley
England hosted world champions Spain in their UEFA Nations League opener at Wembley on Saturday, with goals from Lamine Yamal, Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane leaving England 2-1 ahead at half-time.
Context
On Saturday, September 26, Wembley Stadium in London hosted the opening Group A3 fixture of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League between England and Spain, according to Al Jazeera. Spain arrived as reigning world champions, while England had finished third at the 2026 World Cup. The match was a rematch of the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, which Spain won 2-1. The two sides have met 28 times overall, with England winning 13, Spain 11, and four draws; Spain have won six of the last nine meetings. Croatia and Czechia complete Group A3. Opta's supercomputer gave Spain a pre-match win probability of 40.2%, England 33.6%, and a draw 26.2%.
Squad changes
England were without Marcus Rashford and Cole Palmer through injury. Liverpool's 18-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who had been named in Thomas Tuchel's squad, was left out of the matchday squad, as reported by Yahoo Sports. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente had to cut three players — Roberto Fernández, Iván Fresneda and Víctor Muñoz — from an initial 26-man call-up to reach a 23-man squad. Defender Marc Pubill and goalkeeper Joan Garcia were also unavailable through injury, and Eric Garcia was injured in the warm-up, according to The Guardian's live coverage. James Trafford started in goal instead of the previously expected Jordan Pickford. Yahoo Sports sources noted that five Barcelona players started for Spain.
First-half action
Spain took the lead inside two minutes when Lamine Yamal capitalised on a mistake by Marc Guehi. England responded through Anthony Gordon, who levelled the score at 1-1 in the 36th minute following a swift counter-attack. Four minutes later, Harry Kane headed England into a 2-1 lead after Marc Cucurella failed to clear the ball, and the sides went in at half-time with that score. The Guardian notes that Spain had conceded only one goal across eight games at the World Cup, yet let in two at Wembley within 45 minutes. Regarding Kane's goal, The Guardian's live blog describes it in one place as his 86th for England and elsewhere in the same report as his 479th; this internal inconsistency in the source means the exact career tally remains unclear. The available reporting does not cover the second half or the final result.
