Czechia head coach Santi Denia has placed England’s Anthony Gordon on the same level as Spain’s Lamine Yamal. He made the comparison in an interview with the Guardian published on Monday, as his side prepare for a second Nations League meeting with Thomas Tuchel’s England within seven days, this time at Wembley.
“Anthony Gordon? What a player! He’s at the same level as Lamine Yamal.”
The verdict carries weight given where Denia comes from. He spent 15 years working at the Spanish federation and, according to the interview, was involved with nearly all of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad during their formative years. He is now measuring himself against the senior versions of players he helped develop.
England won the first game 2-0 in Prague. Denia told the Guardian that at full-time he walked along the touchline to shake Tuchel’s hand and said “See you soon”, a parting line he believes he had never used after a match before. Tuchel replied with the same words.
The two sides have taken different routes back to London. Czechia travelled to Oviedo to face Spain, so Denia came up against his own country and many of the footballers he knows best. England went to Rijeka. The Wembley rematch arrives seven days after the meeting in the Czech capital.
Denia was critical of the international calendar that produced that turnaround.
“Four matches in 11 days, no time to train, for anything; I haven’t heard a single national coach say they like the new setup,” he said.
That compression matters for a coach trying to reverse a defeat against the same opponent. With almost no sessions between fixtures, adjustments after the Prague loss have to be made largely through selection and match-day instructions rather than on the training pitch. England face the same constraint, although they head into the game with the 2-0 result already banked.
Denia is early in his time with Czechia. Alongside his Spanish background, he describes himself as a keen follower of English football and has watched a number of England’s current players come through, which helps explain his readiness to rank Gordon alongside one of the most celebrated young players in the world.
His side now go to Wembley needing to improve on a two-goal defeat suffered just a week earlier.
