International Matches

Friendly international

England 0 - Spain 1

England: Foster; Gary Neville (Carragher 65'), Woodgate (Richards 65'), Ferdinand, Phil Neville (Downing 74'); Wright-Phillips (Defoe 70'), Gerrard (Barry 46'), Carrick, Lampard (Barton 79'); Dyer; Crouch. 4-4-1-1.
Spain: Casillas; Sergio Ramos (Angel 46'), Pablo, Puyol (Javi Navarro 46'), Capdevila; Angulo (Iniesta 56'), Albelda, Xavi, David Silva (Arizmendi 65'); David Villa (Cesc 74'), Morientes (Fernando Torres 46'). 4-4-2.

Goals:
0-1. Iniesta. Controlled ball and shot across Foster following Villa cross.

Spain beat England 0-1 in Old Trafford in this friendly game, which served as a testing ground for the European championship double header against Denmark and Iceland next month. Luis Aragonés's starting line up contained five Valencia players, and three of them were in action when Villa and Angulo combined to set up Morientes for him to fire the best chance of the first half over the bar. Before that England had impressed in the opening minutes, with Dyer and Wright-Phillips in particular going close, but after that the only danger for Casillas in the first half was an angled shot from Crouch.

With Puyol and Ramos suspended for the Denmark game, the coach gave Angel and Navarro a run out after the break, and they fitted in well, hardly allowing their hosts a shot at goal throughout the second half. It was another substitute Iniesta who got the only goal though, the Barcelona midfielder collecting the ball on the edge of the area after Ferdinand could only head on Villa's cross to fire an angled shot wide of Foster. Spain could have got a second on a quick breakaway later on had Villa been able to find Arizmendi or Torres, but in the end it didn't matter as they went on to their first victory in 26 years in England. A morale booster for next month's games, although Aragonés's side still have an uphill battle if they are to reach next year's finals.