Phil Jones personified England's desire not to be humiliated ? and the result exceeded all expectations
Not unreasonably, Fabio Capello asked almost his entire team to report to central midfield when Spain had the ball. There was a little first-half difficulty called Xavi Hern�ndez, Andr�s Iniesta and David Silva, and the idea was to crowd, hustle, snatch, survive. No one dreamed it might yield a 1-0 victory.
Well, you have to have a plan against the world champions, don't you? But set pieces still work best. A Frank Lampard finish from a James Milner free-kick left Spain in the unlikely position of chasing the game against an experimental England side who offered a taste of the big time to Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell, Danny Welbeck and Kyle Walker. Capello may have missed his son's wedding but he made plenty of other parents happy.
Faced by Spain or Barcelona (largely the same thing), opposition managers must go through the ritual of devising a geometrical strategy, whether they believe in it or not. Capello left Darren Bent, the centre-forward, so lonely that he might have made a cigar ad. Field glasses were needed for Bent to see his closest team-mate as England formed a blockade of white shirts to stop Spain's infernal trio threading passes into the penalty area.
Moving an extra centre-back into midfield to deal with surely the best collection of centrocampistas in modern times seemed a good idea until you looked at Jones's birth certificate. Not in living memory has an English 19-year-old been handed such a daunting task in a largely alien position.
Capello has fallen for Jones, and rightly so, but there was a hint of the cavalier in the England coach's decision to assign the young Manchester United defender a senior screening role alongside Scott Parker. Capello's idea was doubtless that Jones would hound Spain's orchestrators with his enthusiasm and energy.
His first act was a foul on Alvaro Arbeloa. In the next breath he dispossessed Xavi. But as the game settled into a pattern of swarm and smother Jones endeavoured to impose himself with surging runs from a part of the pitch where Parker and Lampard huddled together for comfort.
This was an England side without John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand. It was the night of the thankless task, which some used to advertise ancient failings. When, under no pressure, Joe Hart belted a clearance aimlessly upfield, Stuart Pearce, Capello's No2, rose from his seat to tell him not to do it again. So Hart did it again.
Yet England found themselves in front against a side who have been known to switch off for friendlies. Realistically Capello's men were not going to turn overnight into a team capable of matching Spain's possession stats or their relentless use of the disguised pass. Quick, darting interventions were made on the edge of England's penalty area and then the ball was sprayed wide to Theo Walcott and Milner. Soon, though, the old inability to deliver concise pressure-relieving balls and keep possession higher up the pitch brought the crimson shirts back to their favoured hunting ground ? in the danger zone in front of the opposition's back four.
Senior European managers will tell you that the only hope against the Spanish tyranny is to jump on it when the threat is most acute. Xavi and Silva must not be allowed to think, turn and unleash the killer angled pass. But these wizards have spent their whole professional lives dealing with such physical pressure and finding a way out. Silva, for example, is a brilliant shielder of the ball and Xavi simply responds by setting up another triangle.
Iker Casillas picked up his national record 126th cap without wear or tear to his gloves, a long-range Lampard shot being his only test. With no score, Spain rolled out the stiffs for the second-half (a joke ? don't write in). Cesc F�bregas replaced Xavi and Chelsea's Juan Mata came on for Silva. The only disturbance was to Spain's goalkeeping, as Pepe Reina (on for Casillas) jumped too soon to counteract a Bent header that rebounded off his post for Lampard to nod in.
As the unthinkable loomed Spain sent on Fernando Torres to join Mata and Santiago Cazorla for Iniesta. Cazorla is yet another diminutive conjurer who refuses to deviate from the religion of hurtful passing. England responded with cup-tie fervour, trying to protect what they held with sliding tackles and all-round industry.
Statisticians said Spain touched the ball 348 times in England's half up to the interval while England had reached 75 by the same measure.
This overwhelming deficit was offset in part by England's stubbornness and disinclination to go home humiliated. It turned out much better than that because there are glimpses in the younger England players of a determination not to go through life expecting the worst.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/12/england-young-guns-spain
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