I’m going to be honest with you. I had four tabs open tonight, a cold drink in my hand, and absolutely zero intention of doing anything else with my evening. This was a proper international night and I was locked in.
Four big nations. Four very different stories. Let me walk you through every one of them.
England 1–1 Uruguay — Wembley Ben White scores. Ben White concedes a penalty. Valverde breaks England hearts.
Right, where do I even start with this one.
Ben White came on as a substitute and scored — then conceded a penalty in stoppage time that allowed Federico Valverde to snatch a 1-1 draw for Uruguay. I genuinely had to put my drink down and just stare at the ceiling for a moment.
The man walked out on England at the 2022 World Cup. He’s been frozen out ever since. He finally comes back, gets booed by his own fans when he walks onto the pitch, and then — of course — he scores. Taps it in at the back post. The crowd goes a bit quiet. Nobody quite knows how to feel. And honestly? Neither did I.
And then five minutes later he fouls someone in the box. VAR has a look. Penalty given. Valverde steps up and rifles it into the bottom corner, ending a run of 629 minutes without England conceding a goal. Six clean sheets in a row. Gone. In the most chaotic way possible.
Look — this is a friendly. It doesn’t count. But there are things you can’t ignore. Tuchel rested Jude Bellingham entirely, and John Stones barely featured either after injury problems. So this wasn’t close to England’s strongest XI. Fine. I get it. This is the “send-off series” — give fringe players minutes, see who can handle the occasion.
But can Tuchel trust Ben White at a World Cup? That’s the question I’m going to be thinking about all week. Brilliant footballer. Absolute liability in that final ten minutes tonight. The World Cup is not the place to find out which version turns up.
Germany 4–3 Switzerland — Basel Wirtz. Just… Wirtz.
This was the game of the night. No argument, no debate, don’t @ me.
Florian Wirtz produced two goals and two assists in a stunning performance — two assists in the first half and two goals in the second — as Germany came from behind twice to win 4-3 in Basel.
Two. Goals. Two. Assists. In a single game. For your country. Three months before the World Cup.
I’ve been saying all season that Wirtz hasn’t quite hit his stride at Liverpool — the Premier League hasn’t been kind to him yet. But when he puts on that German shirt something changes. He was involved in all four Germany goals and the stats back up the eye-test — Germany outshot Switzerland 22 to 7 and won the expected goals battle convincingly.
Switzerland went ahead through Dan Ndoye — a vicious near-post finish — and Germany scrambled to stay in it. Then Wirtz started pulling strings. A pinpoint cross for Jonathan Tah’s first international goal, a defence-splitting pass for Gnabry to make it 2-2, then a curled effort from the edge of the box to make it 3-2 before the final winner with five minutes left.
The defence? A mess. Oliver Baumann was poor in goal. The tactical system Nagelsmann used was overcomplicated — a 4-2-3-1 that kept morphing into a 2-1-2-5 with acres of space left behind the midfield. If you’re facing Brazil or France in that shape you’re getting torn apart.
But Wirtz. My word. If he shows up like that this summer, Germany are going deep. I genuinely believe that.
Netherlands 2–1 Norway — Amsterdam Van Dijk equalises. Reijnders wins it. Haaland watches from his sofa.
I want to make one thing clear before I go any further: Erling Haaland was deliberately rested by Norway manager Stale Solbakken to make sure he’s ready for the summer. So everything I’m about to say about Norway comes with that enormous asterisk.
Norway actually took the lead through Schjelderup in the first half, before Van Dijk equalised, and then Reijnders put the Dutch ahead early in the second half to seal a 2-1 win.
What I loved: Norway came to Amsterdam without their best player and still took the lead. That tells you something about this generation. They qualified with a perfect record, they beat Italy home and away in qualifying, and they aren’t afraid of anyone. When Haaland is back in that squad — fully fit, hungry, ready to go — they are going to cause absolute carnage at this World Cup. I’m fully on the Norway hype train, I don’t care who knows it.
As for the Dutch, they were also without Memphis Depay through injury — so again, not full strength. But Van Dijk looked commanding, the midfield trio was tidy, and Reijnders is playing with a confidence right now that makes me think he could be one of the players of this tournament. Ronald Koeman keeps saying the minimum target is the semi-finals. I think he genuinely means it.
Spain 3–0 Serbia — Villarreal Oyarzabal brace. Rodri’s back. La Roja remind everyone they’re still the Champions.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Watching Spain tonight was just… pleasant. Like, uncomfortably enjoyable. They’re just good. Every single part of the machine works.
Oyarzabal scored twice and Munoz added a third as Spain cruised to a 3-0 win over Serbia at the Estadio de la Cerámica. Serbia barely had a look in. At any point.
But the real headline for me? Rodri made his first start for Spain since 2024 and looked completely unfazed. Like he’d never been away. The man had a serious knee injury, missed months of football, and he just strolls back in and conducts the midfield like it’s a Tuesday training session.
Lamine Yamal is doing things that 18-year-olds simply should not be doing. He was already in the squad and the energy around him inside the stadium before kick-off was electric. If Spain can keep that front line fit and get Rodri firing for the full tournament, I genuinely think they defend their European Championship form and go to the final.
The only concern — and I’ll say it quietly — is that it almost looked too easy tonight. Serbia are not a World Cup team. The group stage will be more of the same for Spain. But when the knockout rounds come, will they have that edge? They had it at Euro 2024. I just hope complacency doesn’t creep in.
The Bigger Picture
Right, let me step back and look at what tonight actually told us about June.
Germany have a world-class talent in Wirtz who could carry them somewhere special — but their defensive structure is broken and Nagelsmann needs to fix it fast. England are well-drilled and hard to beat but the creativity question without Bellingham fully settled at the top level is still lingering. The Netherlands are quietly building something with real depth, and Spain are simply the most complete football team on the planet right now and showing zero signs of slowing down.
And Norway? With Haaland? I said what I said.
Three months, people. Three months and the World Cup starts. I genuinely cannot wait.
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