Southgate to Rashford,Sancho and Saka: Hold your heads high!
Amidst regrets, lamentations and even racist abuse of players who lost penalties, England coach Gareth Southgate has told them to hold their heads high insisting that they gave their all.
Luke Shaw fired England into a dream lead inside 117 seconds but Roberto Mancini’s men grew into Sunday’s final, with Leonardo Bonucci levelling to take the match to extra-time.
It ended 1-1 under the arch as the match went to spot-kicks and, just like the last major tournament played on home soil 25 years ago, it ended in penalty heartbreak.
Southgate missed the crucial effort in the Euro 96 semi-final against Germany and took responsibility after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka failed from the spot on Sunday night.
“In terms of the players, they’ve given everything they could have – not only tonight but through the whole tournament,” the England boss said after the 3-2 shootout defeat. “They should hold their heads high.
“They’re a team who have pulled together, given the country some incredible evenings but of course tonight the devastation of getting so close and not being able to give our country the trophy we wanted to is difficult to put into context.
“You can imagine how the dressing room is so that of course is difficult to put into words at the moment but in terms of the players they’ve given absolutely everything and I’m very proud of them”.
Asked what he told them in the post-match huddle, Southgate said: “At the moment the players are, understandably, really quiet.
“The Duke (of Cambridge) has been down to see them in the dressing room and has rightly thanked them for what they’ve done and been fulsome in his praise.
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“I just said to them that we could have no recriminations. We win and lose together. Nobody is left out on their own and the calls for the penalties were mine.
“My decision. My decision to ask the players to take the penalties that they did.
“They’ve got to walk away from here heads held high. They’ve done more than any other team in the last 50 or so years, so in terms of the players they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve done.