An anguished Harry Kane called England’s Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain “as painful as it can be”, describing their sense of hurt after losing to Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner in Berlin.
Spain were worthy winners but that was little consolation to the England captain, who again looked below par and was replaced by Ollie Watkins just after the hour. The country’s wait for a first men’s tournament win since 1966 continues after a night when Gareth Southgate again refused to offer indications about his future.
“Losing in a final is as tough as it gets,” said Kane, who had to watch from the side as Cole Palmer’s brilliant finish gave England genuine hope until the 86th-minute sting. “We’ve done really well to get back into the game and then we couldn’t quite use that momentum to push on. We couldn’t quite keep the ball and we got punished for it towards the end. It’s as painful as it can be in a football match.
“It’s been a difficult ride. We’ve done extremely well to get here. We wanted to do it so badly for ourselves and also for the fans and everyone who’s believed in us the whole way.”
It is well documented that England’s players are desperate for Southgate, who is considering whether to extend his eight-year tenure, to lead them towards the 2026 World Cup. “We love the manager but that’s his decision and this is not the time to talk about that now,” Kane told the BBC. “That’s down to him, he’ll go away and think about it. Right now we are just hurting.”
Southgate was noncommittal upon being asked whether a second European Championship final defeat in three years would give him extra motivation to stay on. “I totally understand the question,” he said. “But I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes and am not going to discuss that publicly first. Without doubt England have got some fabulous young players and many of this squad are going to be around in two, four, six years’ time.”
Accepting that England “fell short”, Southgate emphasised they should hold their heads high after a sometimes tumultuous run to the competition’s bitter end. “I’m very proud of the group of players, they couldn’t have given me or the country any more,” he said.
“The team have done the country proud, they have reached the first final away from England. A second final in two tournaments is incredible, really. They have played 14 matches in the last two European Championships and lost in the last minutes of the 14th game. It’s an incredible run but at the moment none of that matters.”
Questioned directly about Kane, who has noticeably laboured despite the bittersweet honour of jointly taking the Golden Boot with three goals, Southgate admitted England’s record goalscorer was some way below his best. “Physically it has been tough for him,” he said. “He came into the tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped.
“He has led the team really well. We have lost a lot of leadership with the injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire so a lot has fallen on his shoulders.”
England had been required to deal with a number of physical issues beyond Kane’s struggles, including the strain of extra-time stints against Slovakia and Switzerland. Southgate suggested they had ultimately counted the cost of those exertions.
“So many of our players came into the camp having missed the end of the season,” he said. “We managed to get Luke [Shaw] through the 90 minutes when he hasn’t played for four months. Kobbie [Mainoo] has done incredibly well. Jude [Bellingham] we were about to take off because he was cramping.
“That physical toll is exacerbated when you don’t have the ball. There was a lot stacked against us in terms of having a day less [to prepare] and the extra‑time periods we have had.”
Ultimately, Southgate conceded the superior team had prevailed. “To lose a final is incredibly tough,” he said. “Congratulations to Spain. They were the best team in the tournament and they were the best team tonight.”
The FA’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, echoed Southgate’s sentiments. “We came to Germany to win the tournament and we didn’t want it to end this way,” he said. “We are all hurting tonight, but we should be incredibly proud.”
