Southgate to discuss England future after loss

BERLIN — Gareth Southgate has said a decision over his England future is “not for now” and will speak to “important people behind the scenes” in the coming days after Sunday’s Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.

The Three Lions became the first team ever to lose back-to-back Euro finals as Mikel Oyarzabal struck an 86th-minute winner to give Spain a deserved 2-1 win in Berlin.

Nico Williams had earlier given Spain a 47th-minute lead before substitute Cole Palmer equalised 17 minutes from time with a fine strike from the edge of the box.

Southgate’s current contract expires in December and sources have told ESPN that the FA want the 53-year-old to remain in post for the 2026 World Cup having reached two finals, a semifinal and a quarter-final during his four tournaments in charge.

However, Southgate has faced sustained public criticism during these finals for his conservative approach and he told German newspaper Bild before the tournament that if England didn’t lift their first men’s trophy in 58 years, he would “probably not be here.”

Asked about his future, Southgate told ITV: “I don’t think now is a good time to make a decision like that. I need to talk to the right people. It’s not for now.”

Pushed further on the situation in his post-match news conference, Southgate said: “Look, I totally understand the question and understand that you need to ask it but I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes. I’m obviously not going to discuss that publicly first.

“Without a doubt, England have got some fabulous young players and even the young ones now have got a lot of experience of tournaments. Many of this squad are going to be in two, four, six, eight years’ time.

“We have now been consistently back in the matches that matter but it’s the last step that we haven’t been able to do.”

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham did not comment specifically on Southgate’s situation but said: “We came to Germany to win the tournament, and we didn’t want it to end this way. We are all hurting tonight, but we should be incredibly proud.

“I would like to thank Gareth, [assistant] Steve [Holland], all of the players and the support team for their huge commitment and hard work to try to win the trophy for the country. They will be more disappointed than anyone to fall just short.

“This is our fourth major tournament final in four years for the Three Lions and the Lionesses, and our ambition to win major tournaments is stronger than ever. Our wonderful fans have supported us with pride and passion here in Germany and back at home. Everyone involved with England wants to make the country proud, and we really appreciate their support.”

Spain became the first team to win every match at a Euros and Southgate admitted the better side won.

“They were the best team in the tournament,” said Southgate. “They were the best team tonight.

“Our players have been incredible, they’ve given everybody some incredible nights.

“They couldn’t have given anymore in terms of their effort, their desire, their character.

“Tonight we fell short, we didn’t keep the ball well enough. We got the equaliser but I think the physical toll of the issues we came into the tournament with, the extra-time periods and then tonight, having as little of the ball as we did, ultimately that took a big toll.”

Southgate defended captain Harry Kane’s contribution despite having just one touch in the box across two Euros finals. The Bayern Munich forward was substituted for Ollie Watkins on 61 minutes.

“Harry has come into the tournament having had an injury at the end of the season,” he said.

“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. You know, we’ve lost a lot of leadership from the group with injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire so a lot has fallen on Harry’s shoulders. He’s done that exceptionally well.

“We just felt that we needed to get more pressure on their centre-backs and to have the option of a runner in behind, which is was why we put Ollie Watkins on when we did.”