“The better team lost,” England’s Declan Rice slams France for their ‘lack of creativity’ after losing to them in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Quarterfinals
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Declan Rice
Declan Rice and England will depart Qatar empty-handed following their World Cup exit. In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Gareth Southgate’s team fell to France 1-2. England captain Harry Kane’s failure to convert a penalty in the final minutes was the game’s decisive moment.
England was hoping for an exciting semi-final matchup against Morocco after making it to the final four in the 2018 World Cup and placing second in the Euro Championship last year. But they were outclassed by a talented French side. Following the shocking loss, West Ham midfielder Declan Rice said, “Apart from Tchouaméni, Giroud’s goals, I don’t remember them being creative. We played well; the better team lost.”
Aurelien Tchouameni’s early thunderbolt crushed their dreams, but Kane responded from the penalty spot to tie Wayne Rooney’s England all-time goalscoring record. Olivier Giroud, the all-time leading scorer for France, gave the defending World Cup champions the advantage back, and it turned out to be the game’s winning goal when Kane missed the late spot-kick.
Declan Rice wants England boss Gareth Southgate to stay after World Cup exit
The England number 4 also commented on the game and stated that he would like Gareth Southgate to stay after their World Cup exit. He said, “We’ve come some so far. That’s credit to the manager, the spirit he has brought to this team, the togetherness that we’ve got. I hope he stays. I really hope he stays because the core group that we’ve got and what he’s made for us is so special to be a part of. I love playing for him and I love playing for England,”.
“There’s a lot of talk around that. I think he’s been brilliant for us. I think there’s a lot of criticism that’s not deserved. I think he’s taken us so, so far, further than what people could expect and tonight he got everything spot on. It’s not on him. It’s not on him at all,” Rice added.
The defensive midfielder continued, “The tactics were right, we played the right way, we were aggressive, we stopped (Kylian) Mbappe… it was two goals against the run of play and that’s not down to the manager, that’s down to us on the pitch,”.
England’s quarter-final exit versus France in the World Cup was seven times more than any other side in the history of the FIFA World Cup. Only four teams remain in the World Cup, with Argentina taking on Croatia and France facing Morocco. It’ll be an exciting tournament to watch.
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Ujan Chakraborty
(1240 Articles Published)