Stubborn England hold on for vital 1-0 win over Spain in World Cup qualifiers
An early goal from Lauren Hemp sealed a huge win over rivals at Wembley
There would be no score to settle for Spain. In the first meeting between England and Spain since the Euro 2025 final, the Lionesses came away 1-0 winners at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night.
The win keeps England top of their qualifying group for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, with a perfect three wins from three, and nine points. Crucially, England are now three points ahead of their Spanish rivals.
The Lionesses scored with their first chance of the match in the third minute. After Spain failed to clear the initial corner kick by Alex Greenwood, Alessia Russo got creative by hooking the ball up to Lauren Hemp after falling onto the Wembley grass. Hemp, inspired by Russo’s ingenuity, swivelled and struck the ball on the spin in mid-air. Neither goalkeeper Cata Coll nor Alexia Putellas could do enough to prevent the ball from squeaking over the line.
After thunderous fireworks and nerves ahead of a big night for England, the 62,306 at Wembley quickly relaxed into the game. The early lead allowed confidence to bristle from England and their fans.
Quickly, the match assumed a somewhat predictable rhythm. Spain had the ball, and England closed down the space. The hosts were calm and composed with their task at hand.
Spain probed and probed, but the best of their first half chances came in the shape of Ona Batlle blasting over from the centre of the box and Patri Guijarro stabbing a shot at the near post into the hands of Hannah Hampton.
Despite long spells parked in their own half, England had the best chance of the first half and could have made it 2-0 when Hemp hit the post after a stunning end-to-end nine-pass counter attack started by Lauren James intercepting a pass on the edge of her own box.
After half-time, Spain continued to turn the screw. After 45 minutes of near-perfect defensive work, the gaps in England’s lines did start to appear. The visitors smashed the woodwork twice between the 51st and 57th minutes. First, Olga Carmona’s shot slammed down off the crossbar and just the wrong side of the line. Then, Vicky Lopez saw her curling effort kiss the outside of the post with Hampton beaten.
Hampton would be called upon one final time, dramatically parrying away a header from Edna Imade in the 90th minute to help England cling on and secure the impressive 1-0 win.
What defined England’s night
Bodies in the box, compact lines. You know what you’re going to get when you face off against Spain. And, to the Lionesses’ credit, this was a dogged display where every player knew their role.
England had just 37% of the ball but looked unfazed out of possession. England manager Sarina Wiegman’s decision to start a midfield three of Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway and Lucia Kendall worked a treat. The trio pressed as a unit to disrupt Spain’s rhythm and dropped into place when needed to provide a wall for Spain to try and pass or shoot around.
So much of England’s best defensive work, breaking up the play, came from the midfield, or Kendall stepping up, as well as Lauren James on the left wing.
Extra credit needs to go to England for defending cleanly, they only gave away six fouls despite having just 37% possession and defending for 86 mins.
While James and Kendall were both subbed off, in the 72nd and 81st minutes respectively, Wiegman stuck with her goalkeeper, back four and two deepest midfielders to dig in and get the job done.
Wiegman praised how England managed to execute the game plan, saying after the game: “I think the game plan worked in both halves, although we would love to have the ball a little bit longer in moments and press a bit higher in moments. I thought we made them uncomfortable”
“Against Spain you need to defend as a team really well…I think at moments, we tried not to step in and not let them drag us out of position, let them make mistakes and frustrate them.
“As a team we really fought today. We’re always ready to fight, but this demanded something different from us than we have recently shown and we did that really well.”
What defined Spain’s night
Rattled woodwork, an anonymous Alexia. Spain needed more verve, tempo and penetration to try and wear England’s defence down. Especially during the first half, the Lionesses looked comfortable shuttling their shape as Spain moved the ball and withstanding a soft press when possession briefly changed hands.
There’s certainly an argument to be made that Spain did do enough in the second half to get on the scoreboard. Spain were inches away from scoring shortly after the interval and that could have changed the game.
Putellas could also be accused of failing to command on a night when Spain needed her to take centre stage. The Barcelona star was the least threatening of Spain’s midfield stars, alongside Guijarro and Caldentey. When Guijarro came off injured in the 81st minute, it felt like the wind left Spain’s sales.
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Deja vu? The game flow on Tuesday night at Wembley was very reminiscent of the last time these two nations met at the very same venue 14 months ago, in the 2025 Uefa Women’s Nations League match. That night, Jess Park scored the only goal of the game in the 33rd minute as England also won 1-0.
Comparing the statistics between the two 1-0 Wembley wins over Spain, England had less possession this time around, with 37% compared to 41%. Similarly, they endured 18 total shots, compared to 15 shots 14 months ago.
With England scoring so early, this was, arguably, an even greater defensive performance, as the Lionesses held off Spain for 87 minutes.
England blocked seven of Spain’s 18 total shots at Wembley on Tuesday night. That number is up from three in that last 1-0 win. Truly a night for bodies on the line.
What next?
England will head to Iceland to close out this Fifa window with their fourth match of World Cup qualifying in Reykjavík on 18 April. That same day, Spain will host Ukraine in the other meeting in the group.
Revenge for Spain against England will have to wait until these two sides meet again in the reverse fixture on 5 June.