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The visit of world champions Spain to Wembley Stadium on Saturday serves as a painful reminder to England of a clash that would have been explosive for the "Three Lions," but manager Thomas Tuchel needs a positive reaction to silence the criticism that followed the end of his World Cup campaign.
Had England managed to hold on during the final five minutes and stoppage time against Argentina two months ago, they would have faced Spain in the World Cup final.
But Tuchel's men conceded two goals after the German coach tried to close the gaps through a series of defensive substitutions.
Tuchel said as he announced his squad for four Nations League matches in the coming weeks, "There is no great point in torturing ourselves by looking back."
However, the German coach admitted that he felt "incomplete" after failing to achieve the goal of adding a second star to the England shirt.
Bukayo Saka went further on Wednesday, revealing that "there is still a scar inside us" because of what happened in Atlanta.
The Arsenal forward added, "You try to move on as quickly as possible, but a scar remains a scar, and it heals when it is time for it to heal."
Not playing Saka, even as a substitute, during the World Cup semi-final was one of the many reasons that led to questioning Tuchel's decisions.
Despite suffering from physical problems during the tournament, Saka scored a hat-trick a few days later in a 6-4 win over France to give England the consolation of finishing third.
Despite the criticism, Tuchel emphasized that his communication with the fans since the World Cup has been positive.
The gap is narrowing
The 3-2 victory over Mexico at the famous Estadio Azteca will remain in memory for a long time, and England came back from behind twice to win in World Cup knockout matches for the first time since 1966.
The former Chelsea manager said, "99.9 percent of the fans are not talking about substitutions, tactical adjustments, or technical matters."
He continued, "They are talking about where they watched the Mexico match, they are talking about the second half, about the energy that characterized the Croatia match, and they are talking about how nervous they felt while watching our match against Congo, and where they celebrated afterwards."
A full capacity crowd of 90,000 spectators will attend the match on Saturday, and Tuchel desperately needs to give them a reason to believe that he is the man capable of finally leading England to their first major title since 1966.
The European Championship, which the country will host in two years, represents an ideal, and perhaps final, opportunity for inspirational captain Harry Kane, who turned thirty-three earlier this year.
Spain's path to the title on the other side of the Atlantic proved that they are the standard that England must aspire to reach.
Luis de la Fuente's men have not lost any official match, except for those decided by penalty shootouts, in three and a half years.
Tuchel's task is to transfer his enthusiasm to players who have been physically and mentally exhausted by the World Cup experiences.
The Nations League may not satisfy England's passion for winning a major tournament, but it will be an important step forward and a springboard towards the European Championship.
Tuchel said, "We feel the gap is narrowing, we feel we are close and we want to prove it. The stadium is completely full, the atmosphere will be very exciting, and the motivation could not be greater than facing the world champions."
Spain has reached the final in at least the last three editions of the tournament, while England has reached the semi-finals only once, and even relegated to the second tier in the 2022-2023 edition.
The two teams, ranked first and fourth globally, are considered the top favorites to reach the quarter-finals, in a group that also includes Croatia and the Czech Republic.
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