Gareth Southgate insisted he will take time to consider his England future after Spain struck in the final minutes to win the Euro 2024 final on Sunday night.
The England manager has faced strong criticism during the tournament over his team’s style of play despite leading them to a second major final in three years.
With Southgate’s contract running out in December, attention will now turn to whether the Football Association should appoint a new manager ahead of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
“I don’t think now is a good time to make a decision like that,” the 53-year-old said. “I need to talk to the right people. It’s not for now.
“Spain were the best team in the tournament. We didn’t quite keep the ball well enough, but we were right in it until the last 10 minutes.
“I’m devastated for everybody, really. The players have been absolutely incredible; I’m so proud of what they’ve done. We’ve just fallen a little bit short. We had a little bit of momentum in the game at that point. We also had a big chance to equalise at the end.
“Probably across the 90 minutes, I’m not sure we did quite enough.”
England capain Harry Kane admitted his side failed to capitalise from the momentum of Cole Palmer’s equaliser in the second-half.
The Bayern Munich striker was replaced after an hour after another frustrating evening, although did end as joint top scorer of the tournament, level with five other players on three goals.
“It’s hard to put into words how we’re all feeling right now,” Kane said. “Tough game. We did well to get back into the game and struggled to build on that. To concede late on is really tough to take.”
England came from behind to win their last-16 match against Slovakia, before doing likewise against Switzerland in the last eight to win on penalties, and the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
After again falling behind to Nico Williams’ opener on Sunday, England could not see their comeback through, with questions now remaining over the future of Southgate, whose contract expires at the end of the year.
“We’ve been coming from behind all tournament, we’ve got it in the locker,” Kane said. “We didn’t take the next step and win it. In the first half, we struggled. We couldn’t keep the ball. Second half was better and we got the goal. We got caught with a cross and that’s the final.
“It’s an opportunity missed. These finals aren’t easy to get to. You have to take it when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful and it’ll hurt for a long time.
“Gareth will go away and take time to decide. We wanted to win for him.”
Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winning goal with four minutes remaining, the Real Sociedad forward having come on as a substitute 18 minutes earlier.
He touched in a cross from Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella. Second-half replacement Palmer, also of Stamford Bridge, pulled England level from the edge of the area on 73 minutes having come on for Kobbie Mainoo three minutes previously.
Williams put Spain ahead early in the second half, with a fine angled finish past Jordan Pickford.
England lose in the final for the second time in three years, after defeat to Italy on penalties at Wembley in 2021. The Three Lions’ wait for a major trophy will now near a seventh decade as they look toward the 2026 World Cup.
Spain are European champions for a record fourth time, taking the title for a third time in five tournaments. The Spanish also beat England, 1-0, in last summer’s women’s World Cup final in Sydney.
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