World Cup latest: Southgate ‘needs time’ to decide future after England exit

Kyle Walker lowered his head, opened his lungs, and ran. This was exactly the kind of run he was on the team to make, a quick jump across the field to regain position from him, and yet he knew this was a run he had already lost. Kylian Mbappe had not followed him back into deep French territory, and now Mbappe had the ball, he was dribbling and Walker had left his post unattended.

It hadn’t started out this way. France started and immediately switched the ball to Mbappe moving down the wing where Walker met him with a crunch. As France settled on the ball in the initial forays, Mbappe lurked on the fringes, weaving in and out with deceptive little steps while Walker stood cautiously a few yards inside, glancing coquettishly over his shoulder, the two leading their own dance. far. the rest

Lawrence Ostlere in Doha on Kylian Mbappe as the world’s biggest lure:

Southgate’s contract runs until the end of Euro 2024 and the England manager has said he will take “time to reflect” on the Qatar tournament before making a decision on his future.

Southgate led England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and then to the Euro 2020 final last summer, but the Three Lions were aiming to win the World Cup this month.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker similarly added that he would retake the second penalty and took full responsibility for his mistake, which saw England miss a second equalizing chance, saying it was “purely down to the execution”.

“I’m someone who prepares to take one or two penalties in the same match,” he added. “So I can’t blame my preparation.

“I felt just as confident in the second as in the first, but it was 100% execution. Which is my fault. Obviously it hurts now and it will hurt for a while, but it’s part of being the captain and leader of the team. You have to take responsibility and I take it today.”

More from Kane here on his penalty, and on England manager Gareth Southgate:

England are out of the World Cup after Harry Kane missed a late penalty in a heartbreaking loss to defending champions France.

England were offered a lifeline to cancel out Olivier Giroud’s header as Theo Hernandez charged Mason Mount in the box, but Kane, who had already beaten Hugo Lloris from the penalty spot, fired his effort over the bar as the World Cup in England ended with a heartbreaking disappointment.

This is how the players qualified from the quarterfinals.

Like so many times before but, really, in a totally different way. England were ultimately knocked out of an international tournament after missing a one-star penalty, but this wasn’t a shootout, and it wasn’t a case of Gareth Southgate’s side being outplayed in midfield. It wasn’t even a player of the stature of Kylian Mbappé who was embracing them.

Instead, England were arguably the superior team in this 2-1 loss to the French, who are still world champions. The Southgate team had equally good chances. They had some of the best games.

They just didn’t have a lot of luck or, if you want to be tough on the ref, which many will have, some of the pivotal decisions.

And that meant the biggest opportunity of all, the chance to knock out the highest-class side in a key game, was also missed. Peace of mind will be that England made them look far inferior to that in a fine performance. The reality that matters most is that they came out again at the quarterfinal stage.

Chronicle of Miguel Delaney’s game last night in Doha:

Good morning and welcome to the independents Live blog of the World Cup reaction after England withdrew in the last eight stage.

The Three Lions were beaten by France on Friday night, leaving Didier Deschamps’s side to advance to face Morocco in the semi-finals, with Argentina taking on Croatia in the other quarter-final match.

We have all the news and the latest reactions as England return home from Qatar.