- Sunday, February 23, 2025
Despite a stellar individual career with numerous goalscoring honours, the 30-year-old England skipper is yet to win a team trophy
By: Shajil Kumar
ENGLAND captain Harry Kane said Sunday’s 2-1 Euro 2024 final loss to Spain, the Three Lions’ second-successive defeat in the tournament’s showpiece game, will “hurt for a long time”.
England lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy at Wembley, having made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup two years earlier.
England were also eliminated at the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup by eventual finalists France, with Kane missing a late penalty.
Speaking with ITV, the England captain, who was subbed off after 60 minutes, said the latest major tournament heartbreak after Spain’s late winner was “tough to take”.
“It’s hard to put into words how we’re all feeling right now… We did well to get back into the game and struggled to build on that,” added Kane.
Spain lost Rodri to injury at half-time but took the lead just two minutes into the second half, Lamine Yamal drifting in from the left to find Nico Williams, who cut the ball under England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Cole Palmer equalised three minutes after coming on as a substitute to give England hope but Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winner with four minutes remaining.
“We’ve been coming from behind all tournament, we’ve got it in the locker. We didn’t take the next step and win it,” Kane said.
“The second half was better and we got the goal. We got caught with a cross and that’s the final.”
Despite a stellar individual career with numerous goalscoring honours, the 30-year-old Kane is yet to win a team trophy.
Prior to Sunday’s match, Kane said he would gladly “swap everything in my career” for Euros glory.
The forward finished with three goals at the tournament, the equal most, but struggled with a back injury.
“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.”
Asked about the future of England manager Gareth Southgate, Kane said the man who had been in charge since late 2016 would “go away and take time to decide”.
“We wanted to win it for him.”
Southgate to discuss future
Southgate said he would discuss his future in charge of the national team after Sunday’s defeat in the Euro 2024 final left him once again trying to work out why glory had eluded his side.
Asked whether he would continue in the job, Southgate told reporters: “I totally understand the question and understand you need to ask it, but I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes and I’m obviously not going to discuss that publicly first.
“Without a doubt, England have got some fabulous young players,” he added. “We have now been consistently back in the matches that matter. It’s the last step that we haven’t been able to do.”
England – with only the 1966 World Cup to their name as a major trophy – have become a force in tournaments since Southgate took over the team at a low ebb in 2016.
They reached a semi-final and a quarter-final at the last two World Cups as well as the final of Euro 2020 – when they lost to Italy on penalties – and 2024.
“It’s hard to reflect so soon after a defeat like this,” Southgate said when asked if he would be in charge of England for the 2026 World Cup.
“Of course, to take England to two finals has never been done but we came here to win and we haven’t been able to do that.”
Southgate congratulated Spain and said they were the best team in the tournament. (Agencies)
