England manager Gareth Southgate will take time to decide on his future after a heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final exit to reigning champions France that left him immensely proud of his players.
Having reached the semi-finals four years ago and lost last year’s European Championship final at Wembley on penalties, their winter quest for glory in Qatar was ended in Saturday’s blockbuster showdown.
England captain Harry Kane’s second-half spot-kick cancelled out Aurelien Tchouameni’s stunning early opener for France, equalling Wayne Rooney’s all-time scoring record of 53 in the process.
Olivier Giroud put the champions back ahead before Kane found the stands rather than the net with his second penalty of the night as an impressive display ended in an agonising 2-1 loss.
“However you go out of a tournament, it is really, really difficult,” England boss Southgate said.
“But I can only say I have pride in the players and the way they have gone about the whole thing. The whole group has been exceptional. That’s everyone including the staff, it is such a united group.
“They showed that tonight, they showed the character, they showed the balls to play against a big team and go toe to toe, to take the ball, to be brave in the way that we try to defend as well.
“Of course, not perfect and there were mistakes at both ends which decide the outcome of the game.
“But I think we’ve once again shown the rest of the world that English football is healthy, we’ve got some very good players not only now but for the future as well.”
Southgate told his players just that after the defeat and says captain Kane should not blame himself for this quarter-final exit.
“As you’d expect he’s very, very low but he’s got nothing to reproach himself for,” the England manager said. “We’re in the position we are as a team because of his leadership, because of his goals over a long period of time.
“Tonight the result is the result because of 100 minutes of football and lots of things that happened at both ends of the pitch.
“Even if that goes in we’ve still got a lot to do to win the game, so, for us, no recriminations.
“We’ve always stuck together as a team. The group of players have been brilliant. We win and lose together as simple as that.”
Southgate wanted to congratulate France – who will play Morocco in Wednesday’s semi-final – rather than criticise referee Wilton Sampaio’s display after what could prove his final match in charge.
The 52-year-old is contracted until after the European Championship in 2024 but was non-committal on his future after losing to France.
“I think whenever I finish these tournaments, I’ve needed time to make correct decisions,” Southgate said.
“Emotionally you go through so many different feelings. The energy it takes through these tournaments is enormous.
“I want to make the right decision, whatever that is for the team, for England, for the FA. I’ve got to be sure whatever decision I make is the right one.
“I think it’s right to take time to do that because I know in the past my feelings have fluctuated in the immediate aftermath of tournaments.”
Put to him that he has the kind of talented players that may tempt him to stay, Southgate said: “No, of course.
“We’ve always wanted to develop a group that can sustain the types of tournaments that we’ve had. I think we are continuing to do that.
“It’s more, you know, the decisions around… to go again is a lot of energy and you’ve got to make sure you are ready for that. There’s qualifiers in March.
“Tonight there is too much in my head to think logically about any of that.
“I wanted to focus totally on this tournament and to approach it in the way that we have. I think we have given a really good account of ourselves to the rest of the world.
“But, in the end, only one team wins and we wanted to win. Tonight we have just fallen short.”
