At a time when much of the chatter around England has centred on the existential, Gauloise-puffing idea of identity, essence and (God help us) “footballing DNA”, it seems fitting Spain should be Tuesday night’s friendly opponents at Wembley. The FA’s urge to find a template to follow, embellish and generally crib has circled France, Germany and Spain, with an Iberian tang to elements from B team proposals, elite player performance plan and the idea teams at every level should adopt an already outmoded possession game.
After Friday’s win against Scotland Gareth Southgate even spoke in his post-match press conference about the significance of hosting Julen Lopetegui’s depleted team. “Playing Spain is one of the biggest challenges we can face,” he said. “They have a clear identity of how they play throughout all their age groups.” As pre-match battle cries go it may not be quite up there with Stuart Pearce’s old Wembley routine (“This is our fucking turf, my fucking turf”), but the message is clear enough. Identity, cohesion, that as-yet undefined DNA strand: this has become the new grail, the creaking hobby horse behind every fresh falling-short.
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