Southgate’s Lions fail to roar in a game too far for England
England’s remarkable World Cup adventure reached a meek conclusion as Belgium beat Gareth Southgate’s men in the third-place play-off.
Still reeling from Wednesday’s heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Croatia, the Three Lions stuttered in St Petersburg as the chance to become the best-ever team to leave English shores passed them by. Instead Belgium made history by collecting the bronze medal, with England wasting the chance to cancel out Thomas Meunier’s early opener before Eden Hazard wrapped up a 2-0 win for Roberto Martinez’s side.
But like Sir Bobby Robson’s semi-finalists in 1990, England were unable to replicate the heroics of previous matches in the third-place play-off – little surprise given it came less than 72 hours after their semi-final went to extratime in Moscow.
Meunier exploited those heavy legs inside four minutes and Belgium should have been further ahead as they outclassed England in the first half.
Southgate’s half-time changes inspired a vastly improved display, with Eric Dier seeing an attempt cleared off the line before Hazard secured victory and Belgium’s best-ever World Cup finish.
Yet while England missed the chance to lay down a marker against a big team and win a medal, defeat cannot take the gloss off a memorable few weeks that has heartened supporters and shown a glimpse of an exciting future.
Yes, there will be nagging questions of what could have been but this was an undoubtedly positive experience. However, Southgate remained upbeat after the match.
“We were competitive in every game. We’ve overcome a lot of landmarks that we needed to,” Southgate said. “To finish in the top four is probably above where we are currently.
“Huge credit to the players because they deserve every bit of praise they get when they go back. “You look at the number of caps the Belgium players have and at the age of the squad, they’re at their peak, this was really their big tournament.
“We’re nowhere near our peak yet, we’ve known that right the way through.” England were second best for most of Saturday’s game with Southgate admitting the better team won.
However, he believes Belgium may still have regrets over their semi-final loss to France.
“I think they’re a better side than us.
“The reality is we’ve had a day less to prepare and recover and I think it was just a game too far for us,” he added. “Belgium are a top team and great credit to them, they’ll probably be thinking they should have gone further than they did. “From my point of view, our players have given absolutely everything, right the way to the final whistle.” England captain Harry Kane backed up his national manager, saying: “The lads couldn’t have given any more, it’s been a tough tournament.
“We’ve closed it (the gap to the top teams) but today shows there’s still room for improvement.
“We’re not the finished article yet, we’re still learning, we’re still getting better.”