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.”
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.
Liverpool's Swedish striker Alexander Isak returned to Anfield after suffering a minor injury during his participation with the Sweden national team in the current international window.
Isak scored a goal and played the entire match, on Friday, in Sweden's victory over Romania in the European Nations League.
However, the 27-year-old player will not participate with his country’s national team in its matches against Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania, during the remainder of the extended international break.
Liverpool said in a statement published on its website on Sunday: “Alexander Isak will return to Liverpool from the Swedish national team camp due to a minor injury.”
The club added: “The striker will not participate in the remaining three matches for Sweden during the current international break, and will now undergo evaluation by the club’s medical staff at the AXA Training Center.”
Isaac's first season with Liverpool was affected by injuries, following his controversial transfer from Newcastle.
But the player performed better this season. He scored four goals in his first seven matches in all competitions.
Liverpool coach, Spanish Andoni Iraola, hopes that Isaac will recover before the team's next match in the English Premier League against Manchester City, on October 11.
