WE’RE READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD, FOR SHAW

LUKE SHAW said the England squad is ready for a “new adventure” in the next World Cup.

The Three Lions defender admitted it was a “big blow” that they could not win the Euros after reaching the final, but insisted they want to go one better in Qatar next year.

Shaw (above, centre, being congratulated after scoring England’s goal in the Euros final) said: “We made the nation proud and that’s very important to us. It wasn’t what we wanted, or what they wanted.

“But I still think it brought joy to people, brought some smiles. And even though we ended on a low, the experience we had as a team, with the fans we had here, will be memories we won’t forget.

“And as a team, we can always keep improving. The good thing about the group is that there’s a lot of young players in the squad that are only going to mature, grow up and gain experiences from this. “Like I said, the experience will only grow with the younger players who will learn and gain experience each time.

“This is a big blow, it will hurt for a while, but we’re back in camp next month.

“And towards the end of the month a new adventure is the World Cup and we want to qualify for that. Like I said, there’s things to improve upon as a team, but I’m sure we’ll get there.”

Shaw also said England’s stars will support their three team-mates – Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo

Saka (being consoled by Shaw and Kalvin Phillips, above) – who all missed in the penalty shootout, and added he wanted to give the Arsenal teenager a cuddle.

Shaw said: “Sako’s devastated. But I think the most important thing now for us as a team is to be there for him and give him a big hug, tell him to keep his head up.

“It’s a penalty shootout, anything can happen as a lot of people know. But we’re all behind him, it’s an experience he will learn from. And not just him, but Rashy and Sancho also. We’re with them all, there’s no individuals, we’re together as a team.

“It’s devastating, it’s gutting. It’s of course not what we wanted. We were very confident, we felt in a good way and we felt we were going in the right direction – we gave everything we could and yet we came up short.

“But I felt it was a step in the right direction of what we want to achieve. A Euros final. The first time in our history that’s happened. But that’s not enough, we wanted to win and we came up short.”