‘My responsibility’: Gareth Southgate takes blame
for shootout selections
England manager quizzed over Saka, Rashford and Sancho
Kane says defeat will haunt team for rest of their
careers
Jacob
Steinberg at Wembley and Nick Ames
Mon 12 Jul
2021 00.39 BST
Gareth
Southgate took the blame for England’s heartbreaking defeat on penalties by
Italy in the Euro 2020 final, saying that the order of his team’s takers in the
shootout was his call.
England
were denied their first trophy since 1966 after failing to build on Luke Shaw’s
early goal at Wembley. The late substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho
missed their penalties before Bukayo Saka, who had come on much earlier, saw
the decisive kick saved by Italy’s goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“That is my
responsibility,” Southgate said. “I chose the guys to take the kicks. I told
the players that nobody is on their own in that situation. We win and lose
together as a team. They have been tight throughout and that’s how it needs to
stay. It is my decision to give him [Saka] that penalty. That is totally my
responsibility. It is not him or Marcus or Jadon. We worked through them in
training. That is the order we came to.
“What they
have to know is none of them are on their own. We win and lose as a team.
Penalties are my call. We worked in training. It’s not down to the players.
Tonight it hasn’t gone for us. We know they were the best takers we had left on
the pitch. Of course it’s going to be heartbreaking for the boys but they are
not to blame for that.”
Southgate
rallied around Saka, praising the 19-year-old winger’s performances during the
tournament. “He’s not on his own,” England’s manager said. “He’s such a super
boy. He’s been a star and he’s going to continue to be a star. We’ve got to be
there to support and help him. He’ll get a lot of love from outside because of
what he’s done in this tournament.”
Southgate
explained his use of Rashford and Sancho, who effectively came on cold, was a
calculated gamble. “That’s always the risk you run but they’ve been by far the
best in the lead-in,” he said. “To get all those attacking players on you have
to do it late. It was a gamble but if you gamble earlier you maybe lose in
extra time anyway.”
The mood in
the dressing room was sombre after England were beaten in the men’s team’s
first final since 1966. However Southgate said that his players, who received a
visit from Prince William after the game, should be proud of their efforts.
“They’ve
given everything,” Southgate said. “They should hold their heads high. The
devastation of going so close and not being able to give the country the trophy
they wanted is difficult to put into context. The players have given everything
and I’m proud of them.
“The
players are in a really quiet place. The Duke’s been down to see them in
dressing room and has rightly thanked them for what they’ve done. I said we
could have no recriminations. They’ve got to walk away from here heads held
high. They’ve done more than any team in the last 50 years. But credit to
Italy, they’ve been outstanding. The way they’ve used the ball was a little bit
better than us and they were strong enough in defence to stop us creating
anything.”
Southgate
admitted that England, who were pegged by Leonardo Bonucci’s equaliser in the
second half, did not use the ball well enough in midfield after taking the
lead.
“In the end
they haven’t been able to keep the ball well enough,” he said. “We invited more
pressure. It’s something we know we have to be better at. The time to analyse
in depth is not in this moment. Tonight my pride in what the players have done
is immense.”
A dejected
Harry Kane admitted England’s penalty shootout defeat would haunt them for the
rest of their careers.
“We should
be extremely proud of what we’ve achieved,” the England captain said. “We’re
all winners and it’s going to hurt for a while. It’ll probably hurt for the
rest of our careers but that’s football.
“We’ve
progressed from [the World Cup in] Russia and now it’s about continuing that.
We’ve got a great squad with loads of players hungry for more.”
Kane could
be seen at the end consoling Saka but said the squad’s youngsters should use
their performances this summer as a springboard before next year’s World Cup in
Qatar.
“They’ve
just got to hold their heads up high,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic tournament
and these things can happen. Anyone can miss a penalty. We win together, we
lose together; these boys will grow for it and it gives us more motivation to
do well in the World Cup next year.
“I couldn’t
have given more, the boys couldn’t have given more. Penalties are obviously the
worst feeling in the world when you lose. It wasn’t our night. It’s going to
hurt for a while now but we’re on the right track.”
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