FOOTBALL – WORLD champions Spain recovered to beat Croatia 2-1 yesterday, with Mikel Merino scoring twice to extend their unbeaten run to 42 matches and seal a place in the Nations League quarter-finals on the final night of the fourth round of group-stage action.
England eased to a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the other League A3 match, with captain Harry Kane scoring twice and setting up the third on the night he equalled Peter Shilton’s national appearance record with his 125th cap.
Spain top the group with 12 points, while England, who all but clinched a quarter-final spot, have nine, and Croatia are on three. The Czechs are still without a point.
Three days after Croatia were trounced 7-0 by visitors England, they threatened a major upset against Spain in Split when Ivan Perisic sent a well-placed header into the bottom-left corner in the 17th minute to give them the lead.
But Merino equalised in the 61st to help preserve his nation’s undefeated streak stretching back to March 2024 when he found space in the middle of the box before firing a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Croatia were reduced to 10 men when Perisic was sent off for a second yellow card in the 79th minute and Merino completed Spain’s comeback 10 minutes later with another left-footed finish into the corner of the net.
At Wembley, England went ahead after 27 minutes through a Vladimir Coufal own goal, with Kane providing the cross. Kane marked his historic night with a pair of goals, striking just before the break when Elliot Anderson launched a long ball to Morgan Rogers, whose first-time cross from the right found the 33-year-old in the box for a clinical finish.
Kane completed his double in the 57th when he rose to head Lewis Hall’s corner home from the back post to bag his 91st goal for England.
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