The script looked written for Spain to dominate international football when they followed up World Cup success in 2023 by winning the inaugural UEFA Women’s Nations League in 2024. However, the following 12 months have not quite lived up to the narrative, with Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley adding to doubts that are slowly growing heading toward this summer’s UEFA Women’s European Championship, a tournament La Roja have struggled to deliver at historically.
A disappointing campaign at the Olympic Games last summer, back-to-back draws against Canada and Italy, and now a sputtering start to their Nations League campaign, have accentuated the questions around coach Montse Tomé’s side, who have won just four of their last 10 games in 90 minutes.
Issues have been exposed in this week’s League A Group 3 matchups with Belgium and England. Against Belgium, Spain’s weakness when teams have players who can burst in behind on the counter-attack was evident. They eventually recovered from two goals down to win 3-2, scoring twice in stoppage time, but Belgium are a team they beat 7-0 last year.
Against England, as Jess Park sealed a 1-0 win for the Lionesses, it was Spain’s lack of efficiency in front of goal which was highlighted.
A source close to the…
