England return to Wembley on Saturday evening for a 7.45pm meeting with Spain, the world champions, and a fixture loaded with the weight of what might have been. It is England’s first match since their World Cup semi-final against Argentina, and had they held out for the final five minutes plus stoppage time in that game two months ago, it would have been Spain waiting for them in the final.
Instead, Thomas Tuchel’s players wilted, conceding twice after the coach had attempted to batten down the hatches with a series of defensive substitutions. Tuchel has admitted to being left “unfulfilled” by failing to achieve his target of a second star on the England jersey, while Bukayo Saka went further in midweek by revealing “there’s still a scar in us” over what happened in Atlanta. Spain’s visit offers a chance to start healing those wounds against the best international team on the planet, though it is a tall order given a string of high-profile withdrawals from the squad.
Earlier on Saturday, at 2pm, a new era begins for Scotland as Sébastien Pocognoli takes charge away to Slovenia in the Nations League. In an extended international break, the Scots face the Slovenians twice, as well as Switzerland and North Macedonia, as they strive to get out of League B. The former Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco manager is tasked with building on the groundwork laid by Steve Clarke, under whom Scotland qualified for three major tournaments, including this summer’s World Cup in North America. “We arrive in the timeline of the Scotland national team [where], in the natural way, you will have some changes,” Pocognoli said. “But I don’t see this as a bad challenge, I think it’s a needed challenge.”
Sunday’s international programme takes the Republic of Ireland to Debrecen in Hungary to face Israel, before a designated “home” game in Serbia on 4 October. The match is being staged in Debrecen because Israel cannot host international matches, and amid protests and calls for a boycott over Israel’s war in Gaza there will be no Irish supporters in the stadium, no home match in Ireland and no pundits or Irish commentary on television. Ireland’s manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, raised tension levels last week by saying that many of his squad were uncomfortable about taking part, adding: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide.” Those comments drew a furious response from the Israel Football Association, which accused him of “hypocrisy and stupidity”. Ireland go into the game looking to improve on their defeat to Kosovo. Elsewhere on Sunday, Denmark face Wales, Serbia meet the Netherlands, Germany play Greece and Norway take on Portugal.
In domestic football, the Women’s Super League serves up one of its blockbusters on Sunday when Chelsea host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge at 4.30pm. Renée Slegers’ Arsenal are unbeaten but have drawn with Crystal Palace and Manchester United — the latter rescued by Smilla Holmberg’s stoppage-time equaliser — and have taken five points from three WSL matches, scoring only two goals. Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over HB Køge was achieved with several first-choice players rested, and they should return for the meeting of the two most successful clubs of the WSL era. Chelsea recorded their own European success in midweek, Wieke Kapteina’s strike securing a 1-0 win over Austria Vienna, having struggled to impose themselves against Birmingham City last weekend.