New Delhi [India]: England skipper Harry Kane said that the Three Lions failed to ‘keep the same intensity and pressure’ against Spain in the final match of the EURO 2024.
England conceded a 2-1 defeat against Spain in the final of EURO 2024 at the Olympiastadion Berlin. Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal scored the goals for the Spaniard. While super sub Cole Palmer was the lone scorer for the Three Lions.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Kane said that his side ‘struggled’ against the Spaniards and caught with the ball in behind.
“We just didn’t quite keep the same intensity and pressure (after scoring) or keep the ball well enough. It is the last stage of the tournament, and there are a lot of tired legs and a tired mentality there. We just struggled and then got caught with the ball in behind. It is down to big moments — we had a big moment at the end where they cleared one off the line, it could have been different, but for now it is really disappointing,” Kane was quoted by Goal.com as saying.
He added that it was ‘disappointing’ for them for failing to win the prestigious trophy for the head coach Gareth Southgate.
“It’s an opportunity missed. It’s not easy to get to these finals. It takes unbelievable resilience and character to get to where we are but ultimately you take the opportunity when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful, it’s going to hurt for a long, long time. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t win it for Gareth. We wanted so badly to win it for him,” he added.
England became the first team to lose the final two consecutive times.
England’s struggle to keep possession in their favour against a team like Spain came back to haunt them in the final. Throughout the game, they only had a 34 per cent share of the ball in comparison to Spain’s 66.
Spain made most of the ball share and racked up 16 shots, with six on target. In reply, England fired nine shots, with four of them ending up on the target.
In the first half, both teams defended well and could only muster up a shot each on target. Spain put their foot on the accelerator and took the lead moments after the second half began. Lamine Yamal with a brilliant piece of play on the right, found Willams in the open space on the other end. The youngster effortlessly slotted it into the back of the net.
England eventually managed to equalise in the 73rd minute following a first-time shot.
Neville felt that England’s lack of ability to control the game could have seen them trail by more goals before the equaliser.
In the 86th minute, Oyarzabal poked the ball into the back of the net to seal Spain’s fourth Euro title.