Harry Kane commented on a 3-2 defeat for England against Spain.
Two and a half months after the pain of World Cup semi-final elimination against Argentina, the Three Lions had another game against a top team in the form of the World Cup champions.
Kane: ‘As good as we’ve played’
Spain sniffed blood as Lamine Yamal exploited a Marc Guehi mistake to score in the 2nd minute, and Ferran Torres fluffed his lines in a 1 v 1 with James Trafford.
But Anthony Gordon levelled the score in the 36th minute before Kane converted with a deflected header as half time approached.
He could have bagged a brace and put the hosts 3-1 up with a penalty. However, he slipped and hit the crossbar, and it was downhill from there.
Nico O’Reilly coughed up the ball near his box as Spain scored again through Álex Baena before Mikel Oyarzabal put the final touch on a flowing move.
Another lead let slip
It is another case of allowing a lead against a top team to go wasted and the search for stability through all phases of these kinds of fixtures continues. But the talent to trouble the best in the world is firmly in the ranks of the Three Lions, and that was a point that the captain was keen to reinforce.
"I spoke before that we reached good levels at the World Cup but didn't quite put a full 90 minutes together. Probably similar again today. We had a couple of good moments though, that period was as good as we've played in a long, long time and that's the standard we know we can reach.
"We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe.
“On another day for sure we'd have won that game. We have to take the positives from it. We have to dust ourselves down and go again in a few days."
