England were no match for Belgium–Southgate

England manager Gareth Southgate has agreed that the Three Lions lost the opportunity of winning the third place match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup because they were no match for Belgium.

“Belgium are a better side than us.

“We had to play flat out. We had a day less to repair and recover. It was a game too far for us.

“Belgium are a top team and they will be thinking they should have gone further than they did. We caused them problems and pinned them back but they have players of the highest quality.

“Two years on, you look at the number of caps and age of squad for Belgium. This is their peak but we are nowhere near that and we knew that the whole way through,” Southgate said after the game.

England lost 2-0 to Belgium at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg after defying the odds to come this far.

Thomas Meunier opened scoring for Belgium four minutes into the match before Man of the Match Eden Hazard sealed victory in the 82nd minute

The result sees England equal their second-best World Cup finish of Italia ’90 where they finished fourth