Roy Keane shuts down Anthony Gordon claim as England flounder against ‘sexy’ Spain
Roy Keane has disagreed with Anthony Gordon’s suggestion that England are ‘as good as’ world champions Spain after the Three Lions were beaten 3-2 in an eventful Wembley clash.
Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly were both guilty of costly mistakes as ruthless Spain extended their unbeaten run to 39 matches. England gifted Spain the lead in just the second minute when Guehi was caught out in possession by Lamine Yamal, allowing the Barcelona winger to finish past James Trafford via the far post.
Ferran Torres should have sent Spain 3-0 up, only to miss two big chances. Yamal sent the striker in for his first opportunity, but Trafford raced off his line to block.
It was not long before Torres got in behind the England backline again, only for the Paris Saint-Germain forward to dink his shot wide when he really should have scored.
England equalised in the 36th minute when Gordon and Jude Bellingham linked up to catch Spain on the break. Bellingham played Gordon in and the winger made no mistake with a composed low finish.
England took the lead shortly before half time when O’Reilly lifted a cross into the box, which saw Harry Kane head home with help from Spain left-back Marc Cucurella.
England went into the break 2-1 up, and it looked as though the night would get even better for Thomas Tuchel’s side when Bellingham won a penalty by drawing a foul in the box from Rodri.
However, Kane slipped when taking the spot-kick and could only hit the crossbar.
Another mistake from England gave Spain a route back into the match. O’Reilly passed the ball straight to Dani Olmo in a dangerous area, and Alex Baena proceeded to pick out the bottom corner with a cultured finish.
Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winner for Spain against England in the Euro 2024 final, and he returned to haunt the Three Lions at Wembley. Baena did brilliantly to set Oyarzabal up, and the striker showed Torres how it is done by calmly dinking the ball over Trafford to put Spain back in front.
In a post-match interview with ITV Sport, Gordon claimed England had matched Spain in most aspects of the clash.
“I think it’s a bit of a missed chance,” the winger said. “It was a great game to play in, some of the attacking play on show was at the highest level.
“But, in a game like that where mistakes cost you, you always feel like it’s you giving it away, rather than them winning it.
“But, to be honest, you could argue both teams… because they were as good as us, we were as good as them. Just gutted about the mistakes.”
Roy Keane ‘disagrees’ with Anthony Gordon
But Keane responded in the ITV studio: “I disagree with Gordon, I think there is a gap. I think there is, obviously they’re world champions, European champions.
“They miss a lot of chances. But they’re 2-1 down, England get a chance to go and win the game and all of a sudden then Spain turn on their little bit of class.”
Keane continued: “You’re on about the big chances, when he [Kane] misses that chance [the penalty], the players will know that. And the Spanish lads will know, going, ‘That’s our opportunity’.”
Analysing Spain’s winner, which saw Baena show great vision to tee up Oyarzabal, Keane added: “That defines you as a top player, your first touch, decision-making, when to pass, movement off the ball, the weight of pass, the courage of passing it forward.
“And then the finish… he was never going to miss this. He’s in total control.
“Listen, the keeper’s made some good saves, but he’s always in control of this situation, waiting for him to go down.
“The keeper’s 6ft 4in, 6ft 5in, the little dink over…. Honestly, people talk about sexy football, that is sexy football. I’d watch that all night.”
