That’s an excellent win for England, who will savour the feeling of virtuous tiredness in the dressing-room. They were outpassed throughout, yet defended admirably and ensured that Karen Bardsley had little to do. The timing of the goals from Fran Kirby (2nd minute) and Jodie Taylor (85th) was perfect. Barring a shocker against Portugal on Thursday, England will be doing through to the quarter-finals. Thanks for your company, goodnight.
89 min England bring on Josanne Potter for the goalscorer Jodie Taylor, and Spain make two changes: Barbara Latorre and Virginia Torrecilla replace Sampedro and Ouahabi.
87 min I think I’m right in saying that, if it stays like this, England will go through unless they are well beaten by Portugal in their final match.
Smash y grab. Spain tried to play out from the back and lost the ball. Stokes fed a crisp pass into Nobbs, whose attempted flick to Taylor deflected off the defender Paredes on the edge of the box. It fell nicely for Taylor, who had continued her run and dinked the ball classily over Panos.
Jodie Taylor seals victory with her fourth goal of the tournament!
85 min ““Well there’s timing for you,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “I was about to write a cranky note that England haven’t got one call tonight. One huge and bizarre call = two dozen niggly calls. Still waiting curiously for the thinking behind that drop ball.”
83 min This is the kind of game after which both sides can take the moral high ground. Spain can say they played all the football and should have had a penalty; England can argue they restricted Spain to no clear chances and had a second goal dubiously disallowed.
81 min “Cheers for that Twin Peaks clip,” says Stephen Dorrity. “One of the moments in the series which still genuinely gives me goose bumps when I think of it now. The other being Bob climbing over the sofa. Just go around it Bob. Just go around it.”
I don’t think I’ll ever not be haunted by ‘This is the water and this is the well.’
79 min Ellen White, who conceded the penalty that wasn’t, is replaced by the Barcelona-bound Toni Duggan.
77 min That was bizarre. The referee gave the penalty and then, maybe 15 seconds later, dropped the ball in front of the England keeper Karen Bardsley.
76 min Hang on, the referee has changed her mind and given a drop ball. What’s happened here?
This is pretty harsh. Ellen White slipped, and kicked the ball onto her own arm.
73 min It’s very unusual to see a team have this much possession and create so little. Spain are making a change in an attempt to do something about it: Olga Garcia replaces Vicky Losada.
69 min A bit of respite for England, as Pereira foulds Taylor and is booked. England make their first change, with Izzy Christiansen replacing the goalscorer Fran Kirby.
65 min Paredes, just past the halfway line, spots the late run of Putellas and curls a superb pass over the defence. The last defender Bright strains every sinew and gets the merest headed touch that takes the ball away from Putellas and behind for a corner.
64 min These are probably the worst conditions in which to chase the ball, with the pitch wet and heavy. That’s what England have been doing for most of the game, and you’d expect it to catch up with them in the last quarter unless they start to keep possession for more than a few seconds.
63 min Meseguer scoops a return pass towards Hermoso in the area. Bardsley flies from her line, misjudges the sharp bounce and flaps it behind for a corner before following through to flatten Hermoso. Nothing comes of the corner.
60 min Bronze puts England in trouble with a loose square pass straight to Losada. She finds Sanpedro, who tees up Putellas, and her long-range shot hits Bright.
57 min It is happening again. After an even start to the half, Spain are now starting to dominate and move England around the pitch.
54 min England win a free-kick on the right wing. Nobbs drills it flat towards Bright, who is penalised for fouling Losada.
52 min Kirby almost picks up a loose ball in the Spain area, with Panos charging from her goal to hack it out for a throw-in.
51 min The superb Hermoso guides a lovely through pass behind Houghton and towards Sampedro. The keeper Bardsley slides a long way from her line to claim. Hermoso is a seriously good player, quite reminiscent of Rivaldo in the way she passes the ball.
48 min England have started the second half better than they finished the first, with an even share of possession.
46 min Peep peep! England begin the second half.
A bit of half-time reading
Peep peep! What a strange half. Spain outpassed England to an almost embarrassing degree, yet they created little of note and trail to Fran Kirby’s excellent second-minute goal. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
43 min There are only so many ways you can say ‘Spain are having all of the ball’. They really are though. England’s centre-forward Jodie Taylor has, through no fault of her own, become a recluse.
41 min England need half-time here. They’ve needed it since about the 20th minute. Spain have had so much possession, yet Bardsley still hasn’t had a significant save to make.
40 min The rain continues to pelt down, and there are puddles everywhere now. You don’t need to be sent off in this game to have an early bath.
38 min A good couple of minutes for England, who keep the ball and allow their defenders a breather.
35 min Hermoso is starting to influence the game, dropping deep to wave passes left and right with her left foot. England are really struggling to get out of their half.
33 min I’m surprised we haven’t seen any long-range shooting, given the conditions. Spain have passed the ball superbly but almost all of it has been in front of the England defence.
31 min Paredes is booked for a sliding foul on Taylor.
30 min This is verging on farce, with the ball starting to hold up because of the water on the pitch.
29 min The rain is getting even heavier. It’s John Cusack weather in Breda, and it can’t be much fun to play in. Spain have had 76 per cent of the possession in this game.
26 min It’s pouring down in Breda, and the pitch is starting to cut up. That makes Spain’s passing even more impressive; for the last 15 minutes England have barely had a kick.
24 min Corredera’s angled cross is won superbly in the air by Hermoso. She heads it down to Sampedro, who miscontrols it and then appeals for a handball against Bright. I think it hit her chest but even if it did come off her hand, there was nothing she could do.
21 min Tiki taka tiki taka tiki taki tiki taka Houghton clears.
19 min These are slightly ominous signs for England, with Spain moving the ball around very smoothly.
16 min After a long spell of possession, Corredera wins a corner for Spain. Scott heads it clear. England haven’t seen much of the ball in the last few minutes.
13 min A Spain free-kick isn’t cleared properly and falls nicely for Putellas, who shoots straight at Bardsley from 18 yards. That was a decent chance as well.
11 min What a chance for Houghton! Kirby took a short corner, nutmegged Corredera and crossed dangerously across the face of goal. The ball was half cleared to Houghton, who smashed it high over the bar from 15 yards. She was under pressure; even so, that was a chance.
8 min Sampedro plays a neat one-two and breaks into the box, forcing Houghton to hoof desperately clear. The ball hits one of her team-mates and rebounds for a Spain corner. Nothing comes of it. It’s been a cracking start to this game, with Spain in particular putting in some zesty tackles.
7 min Mark Sampson is furious about that disallowed goal. The more I see it, the more think Bright may have been a millimetre or two offside. It was so tight.
6 min Bright has a goal disallowed for a debatable offside. It was an immense looping header from Nobbs’s driven free-kick, and would have been Bright’s first goal for England. It was very tight but I think she was onside.
It was a fine goal from England. White picked up a loose ball in the Spain half, strode forward and slipped an excellent through pass to put Kirby clear in the inside-left channel. She faced up to the keeper Panos, shaped to go across goal and then dragged the ball inside the near post. That was a lovely disguised finish.
England take the lead!
1 min Peep peep! Spain kick off from right to left. They are in red; England are wearing navy blue. And Spain almost score in the first minute, with Losada thrashing just wide from 15 yards after a slip by Houghton. She probably should have scored.
Portugal beat Scotland 2-1 in the early match, which means England can’t mathematically qualify tonight. Spain can, if they take all three points.
Here come the players. It’s a cold night in Breda, with moody clouds overhead.
An email “Rob!” says Hubert O’Hearn. “Well I guess there are Guardian MBMs for the women’s footy eh? Good to see that you’re doing it this evening. I’d say it’s like watching the match with a friend down at the local, except I’ve managed to move to the one town in Norn Iron that has no pub (Ballyhalbert). So it’s pizza and Tin on the sofa for me.
“That said, the Lionesses are truly my favourite football team in the world. Yes, even more than my Anfield residents. It’s been a joy watching this team mature together and grow together over the last six or so years. Mark Sampson’s a top-level manager to me, a great game strategist. Mostly though it’s the sheer team spirit the English women freely show that I truly love. In that way they’re like a throwback to how the boys were before the gigantic transfers and the billionaire owners made organically nurturing a team vanish at the top levels.”
That’s an excellent point. But I’m still reeling from the news that there’s a town in the UK without a pub. I didn’t realise there was a town that didn’t have a Wetherspoons, never mind any pub.
After thrashing Scotland 6-0 in their opening game, England are unchanged for the first time since Mark Sampson took over in 2013. Spain make one change from the team that beat Portugal 2-0, with the right wing-back Marta Corredera replacing Mariona Caldenty.
England (4-2-3-1) Bardsley; Bronze, Houghton, Bright, Stokes; Moore, Scott; Nobbs, Kirby, White; Taylor.
Spain (3-5-2) Panos; Torrejon, Pereira, Paredes; Corredera, Losada, Meseguer, Putellas, Ouahabi; Hermoso, Sampedro.
Hello there. It’s already been a landmark day for women’s sport in this country, with England’s cricketers winning a sensational World Cup final against India at Lord’s. BREAKING NEWS: ENGLAND ARE WORLD BLOODY CHAMPIONS!
Now it’s time for the footballers to take on Spain at Euro 2017. Both sides won their opening games in Group D and will probably qualify for the quarter-finals regardless of what happens tonight. But beating a fellow contender in the group stages never hurt anyone’s morale.
These are two excellent teams. We know all about England’s development in the last few years, and this is arguably the best side Spain have ever had. They met in Guadalajara last October, when England ended Spain’s long unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory. The England coach Mark Sampson has spoken with surprising candour about Spain’s “dark arts”, which should make things even more interesting tonight.
Kick off is at 7.45pm.