SOUTHGATE: WE HAD NO MORE TO GIVE
Martinez’s stars and third in total. But they fly back to Birmingham today clutching a new-found respect as well as a fourthplace finish at Russia 2018.
It was not the ending Southgate wanted, but he had only praise for his players who simply ran out of gas with the semi-final defeat against Croatia taking such a heavy toll.
He said: “I’m incredibly proud of what the players have done. Today was always going to be a really difficult game. We played one of the best teams in the world with some exceptional individual talent, with two days to prepare.
“Belgium are far ahead of us in terms of their development as a group. It’s probably their best team ever.
“We’ve finished in the final four, but we’re not a top-four team yet, we know that. Against the very best teams, we’ve come up short.
“Physically, it took them a while to get
“It’s been an amazing experience.
“I said before the tournament that everyone in this team is a winner.
“We went into the tournament wanting to win every game, but that is not always possible in sport.
“There are highs and lows, Croatia was a low but it is something we can learn from. There are positives.
“We have done really well – better than a lot of people thought we would going because we’ve not trained between the two games. But they never stopped.
“We haven’t quite produced the moments of quality around the opposition’s penalty area enough in this tournament. But I couldn’t ask more of these players.”
Southgate also defended six-goal skipper Harry Kane, who is in line to win the coveted Golden Boot today.
He said: “I think it would be wrong to judge any player on today’s game if their energy levels were short. He’s captained the team exceptionally well. He’s led a culture we’re trying to create. The players should be proud of themselves.
“They’ve achieved an equal high in terms of tournament performance that an English team has achieved abroad.”
Kane said: “I’m disappointed that I couldn’t get a goal in the last few games.
“The Golden Boot? We’ll see, but if I do get it then it will be something that I’m very proud of.”