July 15 – England manager Gareth Southgate has remained coy about his future after his side lost a second consecutive European championship final, extending the national team’s trophy drought to 58 years.
Quizzed about his future, Southgate said: “It’s hard to reflect so soon after a defeat like this. Of course, to take England to two finals has never been done.”
“I totally understand the question and understand you need to ask it, but I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes and I’m obviously not going to discuss that publicly first.
“Without a doubt, England have got some fabulous young players,” said Southgate. “And even the young ones now have got a lot of experience with tournaments. We have now been consistently back in the matches that matter. It’s the last step that we haven’t been able to do.”
England reached a second consecutive Euro final yet against the first true heavyweight team they met, England fell well short. After containing both Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal in the first half, they were outclassed by La Roja.
Substitute Cole Palmer drew England level, reigniting the hope that England at long last would claim a first major title since 1966. Spain’s own super sub Mikel Oyarzabal decided otherwise, stabbing home a Marc Cucurella cross in the 86th minute to steer his team to a record-fourth European title.
Southgate pointed to the exhaustion of some of his players after a long injury-riddled season. In Germany, striker Harry Kane never looked match-fitness and he cut a peripheral figure in the final.
Southgate explained: “In the main, at the end of the game, the physical issues that we had probably took their toll,” Southgate said. “Harry is coming to the tournament having had an injury at the end of the season. He’s played a lot of minutes. We’ve tried to manage those minutes as well as we could. He’s led the team incredibly well.”
England will be left to reflect on more agony. Three years ago, they lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties against Italy at Wembley. Yet Southgate’s legacy could extend beyond those two lost finals. He took charge of England in 2016, rejuvenated the national team and helped consolidate work at the grassroots level. England are back at the elite level.
“The team have done the country proud,” said Southgate. “They’ve reached the first final, away from England. The second final in two tournaments is incredible. They played 14 matches in the European Championships, the last two European Championships, and we’ve lost in the last five minutes. We weren’t beaten other than in penalties in that period. It’s an incredible run.”
“At the moment, in my head, none of that matters because we had an opportunity to win and we haven’t been able to take it.”
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