Spain can beat everyone but England. It's time for a new approach in World Cup qualifying

England once again got the better of Spain on Tuesday Warren Little/Getty Images Share full articleSince the start of last year, Spain have played 20 matches — almost exclusively against strong opposition — and been left disappointed in just three of them. All have been against England. And so it is only Sarina Wiegman’s side who have truly stopped them. England’s Euro 2025 final success came on penalties. On Tuesday, England had a lucky escape when Spain twice hit the woodwork in the second half. Equally, England had some excellent chances of their own. England versus Spain is now women’s international football’s most fascinating rivalry. It’s not necessarily that they are the best two sides, more that they face one another so regularly and the matches are always extremely tight. It was 2-1 to England at Euro 2022, 1-0 to Spain in the World Cup 2023 final, 1-0 to England and then 2-1 to Spain in the last Nations League campaign, before an England victory on penalties in Basel after a 1-1 draw and, most recently, a narrow 1-0 England win. Many of these matches could have gone the other way. But the question, really, is why England can compete on such even terms against a side that, in terms of individuals and in a technical sense, are much better than them. Not only do Spain have more of the game’s true superstars, even without the injured Aitana Bonmati, the fact that the majority of their side play together at Barcelona (eight of their starters, with Mariona Caldentey also a relatively recent departure) ensures more cohesion. Spain always dominate possession. Spain usually have more shots. Somehow, Spain don’t always win. And the great thing about this rivalry is that the teams play in completely different ways. Wiegman wants England to be a bit more like Spain — “We would have loved to have the ball a little bit longer at moments and press a bit higher at moments, too” — and yet she’s becoming increasingly comfortable when her side are on the back foot. “When it’s hard you have to stick together and fight,” she said. “The strength of Spain is being in possession.” She increasingly seems to be content with the ‘proper England’ tag she seemed to find quite draining at Euro 2025. England scored a scrappy goal from a set piece in the third minute on Tuesday. Energetic, hard-tackling displays from Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway defined their performance. They counter-attacked well. They aren’t really capable of outplaying Spain, and just as Spain’s greatest area of strength is in midfield, England are very light in that zone. Debutant Lucia Kendall performed competently in the No 10 position, but she would get nowhere near this Spain side. What Spain must guard against is being drawn into a football game that feels too ‘English’. Spain’s response to this defeat should be, if anything, doubling down on their strengths. For the return fixture in Mallorca, Spain might need to consider becoming, well, more Spanish. Esther Gonzalez, who started up top in both the Euro 2025 final and on Tuesday, has not been particularly effective against four different England centre-backs — Leah Williamson and Jess Carter in Basel, Esme Morgan and Lotte Wubben-Moy at Wembley. Gonzalez is a horrible striker to play against, always running in behind and gently elbowing opponents out of the way. But, to a certain extent, you know what you’re going to get, a running battle against a proper No 9. At one point, England caught her offside and Morgan dramatically applauded the rest of the defence for holding their position. That was England’s plan. What might cause England’s defence more problems is a centre-forward going the other way. The use of a ‘falser’ No 9 — perhaps Claudia Pina, who has sometimes played there for Barcelona — would drag England’s centre-backs around more, away from their usual positions, and create space for others to burst into. There is no shortage of Spanish players who can pop up in the box. Caldentey did that to head home the opener in the summer. Substitute Salma Paralluelo, who started up front in the World Cup 2023 final, is perhaps the fastest player in the game. Even holding midfielder Patri Guijarro loves making sudden darts into the box. But sometimes it feels like Spain are not as good as they should be at creating the space to attack into. Their plan up front is a bit too obvious. They add to their midfield numbers advantage by bringing inside Pina or Vicky Lopez from the flank, but then sacrifice width and runs in behind England’s full-backs. Gonzalez is there to put the ball in the net, but against strong opposition Spain need something cleverer. She smashed in four goals in the three group stage matches in Switzerland, but then failed to score in the three knockout games. She started without scoring against Germany in the two Nations League final legs, too, before another blank here against England. It might seem strange, after a game when Spain missed plenty of chances, to suggest the solution is playing yet another attacking midfielder and without a striker. But England now have a blueprint for stopping a Gonzalez-led side, and Spain need to offer something different to ensure they finish ahead of England and secure automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Michael Cox concentrates on tactical analysis. He is the author of two books - The Mixer, about the tactical evolution of the Premier League, and Zonal Marking, about footballing philosophies across Europe. Follow Michael on Twitter @Zonal_Marking