Harry Kane, captain of the England national team, said that his team was close to the level of the Spanish national team, the world champion, despite losing to them in their first match in the European Nations League.
The British News Agency reported that German coach Thomas Tuchel's team dealt wonderfully with a volatile match against Spain at Wembley Stadium and succeeded in overturning the deficit with an early goal scored by Lamin Yamal, to lead 2-1 in the first half, after two goals scored by Kane and Anthony Gordon.
Captain Kane had the opportunity to increase the score to 3-1, but he fired a penalty kick that hit the crossbar, so Spain came back strong and snatched the three points thanks to goals from Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal.
However, Bayern Munich's top scorer said that his team did enough to prove its ability to match the world and European champions.
Kane said: “I think we are close, there is no doubt about that, and anyone who watched the match will know that.”
He added: “The Spanish team has titles that confirm their superiority, so until we achieve that, what we say remains just talk, as we must prove it on the field.”
He continued: “We performed well in many aspects, but we lacked decisiveness in the important moments.”
Kane concluded his statements by saying: “But we are among the four best teams in the world. We were in third place in the World Cup, so we are close without a doubt, and I think they definitely felt that during today’s match.”
Belgian national team coach Mark van Bommel enjoys the opportunity to test his abilities against Zinedine Zidane, but he is disappointed by the absence of Kylian Mbappe from the match that will bring together Belgium and France in the European Nations League on Monday.
Van Bommel made a dream start in his first match in charge of the Belgium national team, with a 2-0 victory away to Italy in the first group match of the first level last Friday, and he said that he wants his team to continue the attacking style that he showed in Rome.
He said in a press conference on Sunday: “I began my training mission last Monday by focusing on intensity and desire to work. The idea should remain the same. Of course, you have to take the quality of the opponent into account, but that doesn't change our style of play. If you get defeated in a situation, it's not a problem. As long as everyone knows what to do.”
This will also be Zidane's second match as a coach, after he achieved a 1-0 victory in his first match with the French national team on Friday in Turkey, where top scorer Mbappe was injured.
"It's special to face a coach like him," Van Bommel said. He was an exceptional player, and I played against him once, with Barcelona and Real Madrid. If a dribble move is named after you, then you've done well. And as a coach too, of course. "He's a good coach, that's clear."
The Belgian national team coach added: “I think it is unfortunate that Mbappe will not be there, because you always want the best football players to face you. “I don’t know exactly what injury he has, but I would have liked him to be there.”
The French national team captain has since returned to Real Madrid, who announced that he suffered a strain in his left knee.
Bahrain's Winifred Yafi won gold in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase at the Asian Games currently being held in Aichi-Nagoya on Sunday, breaking the tournament record.
Yafi (26 years old) finished the race in first place with a time of 9:04.36 minutes, 2.46 seconds ahead of Kazakhstani Tanui Nora Girotto, and 4.31 seconds ahead of Indian Parul Chowdhury.
This is Yafi's second gold medal in the current session, after winning the women's 10,000 meters race, raising Bahrain's tally to 8 gold medals, and advancing to seventh place in the general ranking table of the participating countries.
It is also the seventh gold medal for Bahrain in athletics competitions.
Yafi has an opportunity to boost her personal tally and her country's medal haul when she participates in the 5,000-meter race on Monday.
