spain pay penalty against england published: saturday 4 october 2003, 10.45cet
dani converted one penalty but missed another as england triumphed in this dead-rubber to leave spain bottom of the section.
'mal', said the spanish press. 'muy mal.' not good. not good at all. this after their team, already out of the running to top the group, concluded their campaign with a 2-1 defeat by england, no longer in contention themselves.
england manager ron greenwood risked glenn hoddle despite the carrot of third place being his only team's remaining aspiration. the tottenham hotspur fc midfielder could do little to lift his team as it turned out, but it mattered not. trevor brooking and tony woodcock scored the goals but still england could finish only third in the section; for spain, there was the ignominy of coming bottom.
brooking and woodcock both scored with firm, low shots, the first from a knock-down, the other after luis arconada had saved from terry mcdermott – but england had certainly been put on the spot: spanish penalties were the feature of the match.
dani put away the first spot kick soon after coming on at half-time to make it 1-1, and then converted a second just five minutes later. the referee, however, ordered a retake. having put his first two efforts to the goalkeeper's left, he this time went the other way only for clemence to guess correctly.
soon after england were in front once more and although rafael gordillo headed against the bar with ten minutes to go, england deserved their win – but it was scant reward considering the impressive nature of their qualifying campaign.