England 0 Spain 1:Friendlies matter only when they are lost in this manner. The England manager, Steve McClaren, said he and his players had everything to prove, but they merely deepened the doubts with this defeat.
McClaren has now completed four fixtures without a victory and his side offered mere flurries last night. There are reasons for profound anxiety over next month's trip to meet Israel, with England already in difficulties in the Euro 2008 qualification group. Encouragement was short-lived against the visitors here.
England opened as if they would annoy McClaren by preventing him from seeing the debutant goalkeeper Ben Foster tested properly. There was menace as Spain cleared anxiously when Kieron Dyer aimed a low cross towards goal and, within moments, saw their goalkeeper Iker Casillas beat out a drive by Michael Carrick.
It was a crowd-pleaser of an opening, but spectators were soon having to take a reluctant pleasure in the visitors' passing.
There have been thin times for Spain this season, however, with the nation aghast in particular at a defeat to Northern Ireland. The vulnerability was not exposed so dramatically here.
England's 4-3-3 formation seethed with attacking intent as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard broke in support of the forwards, but the side was sometimes slipshod in its passing.
The connections were usually more reliable in the visitors' ranks, especially when Miguel Angel Angulo was in harmony with the forward David Villa from the right. When that link was made after 18 minutes, Angulo rolled the ball to Fernando Morientes. The former Liverpool player then side-stepped Gary Neville before shooting ludicrously high.
England's trio of attackers and Lampard were unable to combine with enough fluency or menace. McClaren must have pined for the likes of Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney.
There could, at least, be a certain appreciation for Steven Gerrard before his substitution at the interval. When the stand-in captain burst down the right six minutes from the interval his delivery was accurate, but Peter Crouch did not hit the target from an angle.
At least England have a penchant for a bright start and it was displayed once more at the outset of the second half when Pablo Ibanez was at full stretch to stop Lampard from capitalising on a Gary Neville cross.
Spain had no inclination to be insistent in taking the play to the opposition and mostly put the accent on patience. They could, all the same, pick their moment and there had been a hint of that before the opener. The splendid Villa saw Foster pushing away a cleanly hit 20-yarder and, after 65 minutes, the Valencia forward showed another element of his repertoire. Jonathan Woodagte, returning to England's ranks for the first time since 2004, went out wide to his right and immediately regretted doing so.
Villa beat him comprehensively and aimed a deep cross that brushed Ferdinand's head before falling to the substitute Andres Iniesta. From the fringes of the area he bent his drive round Foster and high into the net.
ENGLAND:Foster, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Woodgate, Phil Neville, Wright-Phillips, Gerrard, Carrick, Lampard, Dyer, Crouch. Subs: Robinson, Barry, Richards, Carragher, Terry, Dawson, Barton, Parker, Downing, Defoe.
SPAIN:Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Pablo, Capdevila, Angulo, Xavi, Albelda, Silva, Villa, Morientes. Subs: Reina, Javi Navarro, Antonio Lopez, Torres, Alonso, Iniesta, Arizmendi, Fabregas, Angel.
Referee:M Weiner (Germany).
