“I’ve found the last 18 months difficult,” Gareth Southgate hints at quitting the England job after disappointing 2022 FIFA World Cup exit


“I’ve found the last 18 months difficult,” Gareth Southgate hints at quitting the England job after disappointing 2022 FIFA World Cup exit

Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate intimated that he could be stepping down from his role as England manager after their 2-1 defeat to France. Despite the loss, the Football Association are reportedly content with his performance since his appointment in 2016 and are hopeful he will remain in charge for Euro 2024.

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Gareth Southgate has seen his England team reach two semi-finals and one quarter-final during his tenure as manager, and his contract is set to expire in 2024. However, following the team’s elimination in the World Cup after Olivier Giroud’s winning goal on Saturday, Southgate expressed feeling torn about his future plans.

He discussed the distressing 4-0 UEFA Nations League loss to Hungary at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium, where England were jeered after the most disastrous home loss since 1928. He said “I’ve found large parts of the last 18 months difficult, I don’t want to be four or five months down the line thinking I’ve made the wrong call. It’s too important for everybody to get that wrong.”

He said that when he had gone through the past few tournaments, his emotions had been difficult to think through properly in the following few weeks. Southgate added that it had taken so much energy out of him and that he had so much going through his mind.

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He wanted to make the right decision either way, because it had to be the right one to go again or the right one not to go again and he did not think that night was the time to make a decision like that, nor were the next few days really. After every tournament, Southgate mentioned that he had sat with everybody at the FA and talked things through logically and he thought that was the right process to go through again.

Also Read: Croatia will look to replicate its 2018 semi-final performance against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup

France to defeats England 2-1 and advance to the semifinals of FIFA World Cup

Harry Kane

In an energetic and fiercely contested quarterfinal, France managed to pull off a 2-1 win over England to advance to the semi-finals and stay in contention for defending their 2018 title. In the first half, the French had the majority of possession and gained an advantage with a stunning goal from Aurelien Tchouameni from outside the box.  England was given a great chance to tie the score when Saka was brought down in the penalty area seven minutes after the break. Harry Kane confidently sent his penalty kick past Hugo Lloris, preserving England’s hopes.

England created most of the opportunities and had possession of the ball more often after their equalizing goal, yet Olivier Giroud scored again for France in the 78th minute with a powerful header.Harry Kane had the possibility to keep England in the game for a second time, however he sent the penalty kick in the closing moments way over the goal, devastatingly ending England’s chance of advancing in the quarter-finals.

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