Vicente del Bosque, the Spain coach, said his team had been “a little lucky” but Hodgson disagreed and accepted that England had come up short.
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The back five picked themselves, starting with Iker Casillas, Mario Gaspar and Jordi Alba at full-back and Barcelona teammates Marc Bartra and Gerard Pique partnering each other in central defence following Sergio Ramos’ shoulder injury.
Del Bosque substituted Andres Iniesta at half-time, the kind of luxury you can afford with this many passing midfielders in the squad and replaced him with Celta Vigo’s Nolito, a left-sided player.
Santi Cazorla sealed Spain’s victory with a low shot from outside the area in the 84th.
The 2010 world champions went on to win Euro 2012, conceding only one goal in the tournament and thrashing Italy 4-0 in the final while England were knocked out by the Italians on penalties in the quarter-finals.
“Michael has got a severely twisted ankle which normally means ligament damage”, Hodgson said after England’s game against Spain.
Kane has played just 32 minutes at global level with England and Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney.
Former Spain global Raul could be just 90 minutes from lifting one last trophy today, capping a remarkable playing career in professional soccer with a win in the North American Soccer League’s championship game.
Spain eventually broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute as Mario Gaspar collected a pass from Cesc Fabregas, before rifling the ball into the top corner.
The Three Lions could hardly get a kick then and after a hard start, they did at least settle and play with a degree of composure in the middle part of the match.
“We’ve got players that are capable of that, but so have they, as they have proven, but it was a great goal”. I had my chances in Spain.
“Spain are a world-class side, they keep the ball well, play good possession football, but we were well-organised. We’ve lost the game so we need to dust ourselves off and do better against France”.
“I was an old man out there today and I’m 28 years old”.
“I actually voted for him as player of the year last season because I think he was a huge player for Chelsea”, the England captain said of Costa, who scored 20 goals in his maiden season for the Blues.
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“For 70 minutes, I thought we were well in the game but goals change games, it was a special goal and it opened it up”.
