France-England, Southgate freezes: “I’ll stay? We’ll talk about it…”

England’s dream of a big win remains true. In the summer of 2021 it was Italy that choked in her throat the cry of joy within the friendly walls of Wembley: European farewell to penalties thanks to Donnarumma’s saves. This time the Southgate national team stopped before and against reigning champions France. Out in the quarterfinals, thanks to a penalty missed by Kane. A knockout that hurts, very badly, but that doesn’t trigger criticism. On the contrary…

ABSOLUTION

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“I am absolutely devastated – wrote Wayne Rooney on Twitter – but proud of the way the boys have played this tournament and they should be too. Congrats to @HKane for equaling my record – he’ll be on his own soon and I couldn’t think of anyone better than him to top me. Keep your head up, Harry.” Gary Lineker, also on Twitter, echoed him: “Heartbreaking once again, but I’m not ashamed to lose against an excellent France. Congratulations to them. This beautiful young England team gave their all and will only get better. Her time will come ”. The comment from the English Football Federation on social media also followed and the thought was directed above all to the clearly disappointed fans: “Broken heart. We so desperately wanted this moment to be our moment, but it didn’t have to be. Thank you for being there with us every step of the way. Your support at home and in Qatar has been incredible.” What hurts even more is the fact that Lloris, the Tottenham goalkeeper, was France’s best with six saves, almost all decisive. And to think that he must have been the weak link in the Deschamps chain…

ARBITRAGE

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Less benevolent were the comments on the direction of the Brazilian Wilton Sampaio, guilty according to English fans and commentators of not having seen a penalty foul by Upamecano on Kane and of ignoring a suspicious intervention on Saka at the start of the 1- 0. Gary Neville and Roy Keane in particular underlined that Upamecano’s on Saka was a foul and therefore Tchouameni’s 1-0 goal should be cancelled.

SOUTHGATE STAY?

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Beyond the acquittal for the team and the sentence for referee Sampaio, the question remains about Southgate’s future. The coach was invited to continue on social media by hundreds of messages, but he himself gave no guarantees regarding the continuation of the project. “After each tournament, we always got together to reflect on the continuation of the relationship. Now we need some time to make sure that everyone takes the correct decisions” dribbled Southgate who on the other hand had no doubts about the team’s performance: “It lived up to expectations, but the matches decide with goals. I just told my players that they couldn’t give more: it was a very balanced challenge and decided by small episodes. I’m proud of our progress in this tournament: we win and lose as a team, we conceded two goals and missed some great chances. The penalty missed by Kane? He’s an amazing player and very reliable. Without his goals we would never have gotten here. In the important moments, we were almost always in the right place: we came here to Qatar to try and win the tournament and we believed we could do it. We have a group that could have won the World Cup. The referee? Never mind… Congratulations to France”.