Will Gareth Southgate step down as England manager? Three Lions boss says to “take time” to consider his position
Gareth Southgate says he will take his time deciding whether to continue as England manager – and refused to blame Harry Kane for the quarter-final defeat to France.
The Three Lions were knocked out of the World Cup after Kane’s late penalty miss sent them to defeat by Les Bleus.
Southgate has now been in charge for six years and previously guided England to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final, but his current contract has two more years.
“Whenever I’ve finished tournaments, I’ve needed time to make the right decisions because emotionally you go through so many different feelings,” he said.
“The energy that goes into these tournaments is huge, so I want to make the right decision, whatever that is for the team, for England, for the FA. I have to make sure whatever decision I make is the right one. it.” – I think it’s good to take some time for that, because I know in the past how my feelings fluctuated in the immediate aftermath of tournaments.
“Tonight there’s too much in my head to think about it logically. I think we gave the rest of the world a really good picture of ourselves, but in the end only one team wins. We wanted to win and tonight we’re just failed.”
Kane equaled Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record in England with a penalty early in the second half against his Spurs teammate Hugo Lloris, but shot over the crossbar as the Three Lions conceded a second penalty late in the game.
“It’s very difficult when you get a second penalty, and of course against a goalkeeper who knows you very well. There’s a lot involved,” said Southgate.
“Even the best miss sometimes – there’s no one I’d rather be in that situation, and if we had one tomorrow I’d feel exactly the same.
“He is very, very low, but he has nothing to blame – we are in the position we are in as a team because of his leadership and his goals over a long period of time.
“Tonight the result is the result because of 100 minutes of football and a lot of things that happened on both sides – even if we succeed, we still have a lot to do to win the game. We have always stayed together as a team – we win and lose together.
“I thought his performance tonight was his best of the tournament. It’s cruel for him because he will be disappointed in himself, but he shouldn’t.”
England generally performed well at the tournament, leading most of the match against France.
“My first feeling is there are fewer things to think about that might have been done differently at this tournament,” said Southgate.
“The way the game went tonight, the way we reacted after the break, the messages we gave, when we conceded the second goal, that was one of our strongest periods of the game. However you leave a tournament, it’s always very difficult.” but all I can say is that I’m proud of the players. The way they handled it is exceptional.
“They pushed a top country to their limits tonight – more possession, more tries on goal. We felt we could come here and win the tournament, so tonight it’s very difficult.
“I think it’s probably the best we’ve played against a big country in my time in charge, but in the end we fell short. The score is all that matters.”
Match winner Olivier Giroud admitted France had a fortune to set up a semi-final against Morocco on Wednesday as they looked to keep the trophy they won in Russia in 2018.
“We were a bit lucky because Kane missed the penalty, but we fought for each other – it reminded me of the mentality we had in 2018,” he said. “I hope we can go far in this tournament, this group deserves to get there.
“Tonight’s game reminded me of the semi-final against Belgium in 2018, when we took the lead and then fought tooth and nail to keep ourselves ahead. England came back into the game and put pressure on us, but we showed that we could be dangerous.” on the counterattack. What’s important in this kind of match is the little details, to take your chances when you get them. That’s what we did. It was an incredible feeling to score.”
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