Things started to go wrong against Spain at the same time they did against Argentina, but for different reasons and with far more cause for optimism.
You could feel it inside the stadium, one of those moments where the air starts to shift, the birds fly backwards through the sky, and outside on Wembley Way an old man clutches his copy of the England Pathway Blueprint to his chest and cowers up at the moon. Welcome to the witching hour, 55 minutes in, when things just seem to happen to Thomas Tuchel’s England.
Before this Nations League opener there was general agreement on the desirability of systems, pattern, repeatability. Their last two matches, here and in Atlanta in July, have both involved going a goal ahead against the World Cup finalists, playing well and dominating parts of the game, right up until the 55-minute mark.
On both occasions the final 35 minutes have been lost 2-0.
At which point the team fell apart like an over-dunked digestive biscuit, reduced suddenly to a collection of hollow men, stuffed shirts, 12% possession merchants, the manager spooked into fielding a back five.
England were 2-1 up from 1-0 down at that point.
On 54 minutes a lengthy VAR check ended with a penalty awarded for a trip on Jude Bellingham that was combined also with a dive, but trip plus dive does not cancel trip.
54 ticked over into 55 minutes.
Fourteen minutes later Spain were 3-2 up, a lead they would hold on to.