Jude Bellingham, an England midfielder, explains why, should Gareth Southgate stay in charge, he will be “even more determined” to win a big tournament.
After Spain won a record-breaking fourth European Championship in Berlin thanks to a goal by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 86th minute, the Three Lions were defeated at the last hurdle on Sunday night.
It appeared as though England was in control at one point. After a spectacular shot by second-half substitute Cole Palmer against Unai Simon leveled the scores, there was a momentary surge in support.
However, Gareth Southgate’s team seemed to run out of steam in the closing minutes, and Oyarzabal broke English hearts by tapping home from close range.
An emotional Southgate after he came agonizingly close to winning the nation’s first silverware since 1966
“Now is not the time for me to speak about that,” he said in his post-match interview with the BBC. “I need to talk to the right people and give myself a bit of time.”
Southgate added: “To get to another final… it was a privilege to have the opportunity. But to come up short is hard at the moment.”
Jude Bellingham, an England midfielder, explains why, should Gareth Southgate stay in charge, he will be “even more determined” to win a big tournament.
After Spain won a record-breaking fourth European Championship in Berlin thanks to a goal by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 86th minute, the Three Lions were defeated at the last hurdle on Sunday night.
It appeared as though England was in control at one point. After a spectacular shot by second-half substitute Cole Palmer against Unai Simon leveled the scores, there was a momentary surge in support.
“Whatever happens with Gareth, I’ll always respect him. If he stays, then I’ll be even more determined to win something for him because he deserves it. Sometimes the numbers and the kind of statistics, the records don’t lie, he’s been our most successful manager since 1966.
“So whatever he decides, he will always have my respect and my love.”
Later on, Bellingham would consider England’s tournament in Germany. “It’s really disappointing because at some point we do have to deliver, but there are experiences and there’s things we can take from this tournament going forward,” he said.
“I suppose if you look at everything negatively, nothing will ever change. So it’s important we pick the positives and the negatives together and find a way to one day get England over the line.”
“I came here to win,” he added. “We came here to win. Like I said, there’s experiences that we can take going into the next one.
“So I suppose you could say that’s kind of some solace. It’s one of those where you probably need a bit more time to digest it and analyse it, and we’ll do that as a team, individually, look over how it went and bounce back.
