Well that was unexpected. England and Spain have drawn 1-1 in their opening match of the under-21 European Championship, but it took an extremely fortunate last-gasp goal from Manchester United forward Danny Welbeck to rescue the points for Stuart Pearce's men, who up until then had been rather thoroughly outplayed by a technically superior Spanish side.
Spain Vs. England, UEFA European Under-21 Championships: England Salvage Draw With Late Danny Welbeck Goal
Why Jack Rodwell wasn't starting is anyone's guess - in fact, things would have looked very different both sides were able to pick the strongest eligible teams, with Barcelona's Sergio Busquets and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere the most obviously missing - but with Michael Mancienne playing in the midfield England were swarmed by Spain for the first half, with Luis Milla's side taking the lead from a set piece in the 15th minute, Ander Herrera turning in a header from Javier Martinez (using his hand) at Frank Fielding's near post.
The goal might have been dubious, but it was still very much deserved. England were nowhere near Spain’s level, and although Danny Sturridge managed to give David de Gea a scare in the last minute of the first half, it was abundantly clear that industry wasn’t going to triumph over technical skill. There was an improvement when Rodwell came on to stabilise the midfield, but really, that just meant England were being outplayed by a little bit rather than by a lot - they were still second best.
Milla was looking worried on the touchline, though. For all of Spain's superiority, they were only one goal up, and with England's power and speed something from nothing wasn't entirely out of the question. That something came courtesy of Kyle Walker, whose surging runs from right had looked threatening all evening. This time he came inside, drew the Spainish defence out of position, and laid off a pass to a suddenly-unmarked Danny Welbeck, who easily turned and fired past de Gea for the equaliser.
With barely any time left to go, the momentum had turned and the match was suddenly England’s to win. They applied plenty of pressure in the last few minutes but couldn’t breach Spain again. However, it did put some gloss on what was on the whole a thoroughly unconvincing performance. Pearce has some work to do with his side, but they’ve somehow navigated their most difficult fixture. Meanwhile, Spain will be left ruing two points dropped in a crucial match.
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