Spain hosts Croatia.. and England welcomes Czech in the Nations League..

In direct confrontations, Spain has won seven of its ten official matches against Croatia, including three wins in the last three matches between the teams, and its last loss was in November 2018 away with a score of (3-2) in the European Nations League, while its only loss at home dates back to a friendly match in March 1994, with a score of (2-0).

The Spanish national team showed its quality and champion mentality in its first match in the European Nations League last Saturday against England, which was its first match since its (1-0) victory over Argentina in the final match in July.

Lamin Yamal scored his eighth international goal with Spain in the first two minutes of the match at Wembley Stadium, before Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane turned the score in favor of England before the end of the first half.

The exciting match turned around when Kane missed a penalty on the crossbar in the 55th minute, moments before Luis de la Fuente brought in Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal, who scored two goals to give 'La Roja' a (3-2) victory, their fourth in the last six direct encounters against the Three Lions.

Thanks to its amazing turnaround, the Spanish national team has not lost an international match in regular time since its friendly defeat (1-0) to Colombia in March 2024, while its last official loss dates back to March 2023 against Scotland.

On the other hand, coach Slaven Bilic returned to lead the Croatian national team, 14 years after the end of his six-year term between 2006 and 2012, and the 58-year-old took over from Zlatko Dalic, who left his post after his contract expired following the exit from the round of 32 in the 2026 World Cup.

Bilic began his second term as coach of the Croatian national team with a difficult victory (2-1) away to the Czech Republic in the opening match of Group Three of the European Nations League.

Luka Modric, who turned 41 this month, opened the scoring at the 'Fortuna Arena' in Prague two minutes into the second half, but Adam Karabec quickly equalized.

In the end, Orlando City's Marko Pasalic emerged as Croatia's hero, scoring his second international goal, more than two years after his first, to secure a (2-1) victory in the Czech capital.

Czech and England

In an important match as well, the Czech Republic and England national teams meet at the 'Fortuna Arena' in Prague, as part of the second round of the group stage.

The Czech team lost to Croatia in the first round (2-1) last Saturday, while the English team squandered their lead against world champion Spain to eventually lose (3-2), leaving both teams without points in Group Three of Level One.

In direct confrontations, the Czechs achieved a surprising (2-1) victory in their last match against England in 2019 in Prague, but lost (1-0) in the 2020 European Championship.

The era of coach Santiago Denia at the helm of the Czech Republic national team started poorly last week, as the former Spanish international oversaw the third defeat in four matches.

In addition to Adam Karabec's goal, Luka Modric (41 years old) and Orlando City's Marko Pasalic scored Croatia's goals at the 'Fortuna Arena' last Saturday, leaving the Czechs to lament the result after they took only five shots compared to 16 for the visitors.

The Czech national team has achieved only two wins in eight matches played in 2026, two friendly matches in preparation for the World Cup against Kosovo and Guatemala, preceding a disappointing participation in North America, where they only managed one point in three group stage matches against South Korea, South Africa and Mexico.

After fluctuating between Level One and Level Two of the European Nations League since the 2020-2021 season, the Czech Republic topped their group in Level Two in the 2024-2025 season, re-ascending to Level One, but their current fourth place puts them at risk of rapid relegation again.

On the other hand, the English national team experienced a scenario similar to the World Cup semi-final against Argentina, when Spain turned their deficit last Saturday at Wembley into a victory, followed by another frustrating defeat.

Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane's goals had little impact, as Lamin Yamal, Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal took advantage of serious errors in the English team's performance, especially from Manchester City players Nico Oreilly and Marc Guehi, leading to Spain's goals in both halves.

However, England's defensive weaknesses were exposed before and after the last match, as they failed to keep a clean sheet in six consecutive matches, conceding 13 goals in the process.

After two defeats in their last three matches, Thomas Tuchel's team has suffered losses during this period equal to the total losses in their previous 23 matches combined, and their current third place in Group Three of Level One of the Nations League could lead to relegation play-offs to avoid relegation.