In or out? Southgate taking time to think through his position

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…

Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/07/15/southgate-taking-time-think-position/

Author : Paul Nicholson

Publish date : 2024-07-15 07:44:21

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