England's best 'for a long time' despite Spain defeat, says Kane

England manager Harry Kane hailed his team's performance as some of their best in years, despite a 3-2 home defeat to reigning world champions and European champions Spain in the Nations League on Friday. The Three Lions started poorly, with Marc Guehi inadvertently setting up Lamine Yamal for the opening goal at Wembley. However, England quickly responded, taking the lead through a brilliant counter-attack finished by Anthony Gordon and a header from Kane.

Kane narrowly hit the bar with a penalty in stoppage time that could have extended England's lead to 3-1 before Spain equalized through Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal.

Kane, speaking to ITV, reflected on the match, saying, "We reached good levels in the World Cup, but didn't quite put a full 90 minutes together. Probably similar again today." He emphasized that the period either side of halftime was as good as England had played in a long time, and that this level of performance is what they know they can consistently achieve.

Despite facing the reigning champions, Kane expressed belief in England's chances, stating, "We went toe-to-toe and on another day, for sure, we would win that game."

On the other hand, Spain's manager Thomas Tuchel lamented the two defensive errors that cost his side the victory. Nico Otamendi, who had recently played alongside Manchester City teammate Marc Guehi, gifted possession deep in England's half, setting up Baena's equalizer. Tuchel emphasized that both the effort and quality were there, but the two mistakes proved decisive. He concluded, "The effort was there, the quality was there, spells of the game were very, very good, but the result isn't perfect today."