England’s best ‘for a long time’ despite Spain defeat, says Kane

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England’s striker #09 Harry Kane celebrates scoring the team’s second goal during the UEFA Nations League, League A – Group 3, football match between England and the Spain at Wembley Stadium in London on September 26, 2026. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP) / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE

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England captain Harry Kane said that the Three Lions produced some of their best football for a long time despite losing 3-2 at home to world champions Spain in the Nations League on Friday.

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Thomas Tuchel’s men got off to a disastrous start when Marc Guehi gifted Lamine Yamal the opening goal at Wembley.

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But England roared back to lead before half-time thanks to a brilliant counter-attack finished off by Anthony Gordon and Kane’s header.

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Kane then hit the bar with a second half penalty that would have made it 3-1 before Spain roared back to extend their unbeaten run to 39 games through Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal.

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It was a familiar tale of what could have been for England, who have reached the semi-finals in four of their last five major tournaments without ending their wait since 1966 to win one.

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“We reached good levels in the World Cup, but didn’t quite put a full 90 minutes together. Probably similar again today,” Kane told ITV.

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“We had a lot of good moments, so I think that period (either side of half-time) was as good as we’ve played in a long, long time and that’s the standard that we know we can reach.

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“We’re playing against the reigning world champions, European champions. We went toe-to-toe and on another day, for sure, we would win that game.”

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Tuchel was left to bemoan the two defensive errors that cost his side victory.

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Nico O’Riley followed Manchester City team-mate Guehi into gifting possession away deep inside England’s half in the build up to Baena’s equaliser.

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“On that level, the details matter. It matters that you take your chances and it matters that you reduce the decisive mistakes. Both was not in our favour today,” said Tuchel.

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“The effort was there, the quality was there, spells of the game were very, very good, but the result isn’t perfect today.”

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AFP

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