England dominated Spain to an extent very few teams have in recent years. Sadly for them, not in terms of goals. But ownership of the ball is less important than where on the pitch it occurs.
Thomas Tuchel’s side had 36 touches in the visitors’ penalty area, a ridiculously high total when put in context of Spain’s last decade. They allowed just 9.5 touches per 90 minutes at the 2026 World Cup. The combined efforts of Belgium, France and Argentina registered 38 touches in the Spain box in the final three rounds of the tournament.
Since available records began (at the start of Euro 2016), the most box touches a side has had against Spain was the 45 Germany had in the quarter-final of Euro 2024. However, that game went to extra time. France had 42 in normal time in the ridiculous Nations League semi-final they lost 5-4 last year, then come England, second best in regular time from a sample of 133 matches.
Given they were so active in the penalty area, they should have created more. Germany generated 2.15 non-penalty expected goals in the above example, France 1.95 and England just 0.95. The latter averaged 5.1 box touches for each shot they had in the penalty area, or 5.8 without Harry Kane’s spot kick.
Tottenham have been criticised for being inefficient in this regard this season and their average of 3.6 – the highest in the Premier League – is well below England’s level against Spain. England struggled to create high-value chances even when in the box because the Spanish compressed the space so well, leaving very few passing lanes or lines of sight to goal. Bukayo Saka’s performance provides an excellent case study.
His total of 10 touches in the box was two more than Argentina managed in the 120 minutes of the World Cup final. Saka had one shot from within the penalty area, which he curled wide of the far post midway through the second half. He was tackled twice when trying to make things happen, and was unable to control the ball when receiving it a couple of times.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
