England head coach Gareth Southgate revealed he would not make a hasty decision over his future as England manager following their World Cup quarter-final 2-1 defeat against France.
The Three Lions boss says he will not let his emotions, arising from the disappointment of the World Cup elimination to France decide his England future.
Defending champions France defeated England 2-1 at the Al Bayt Stadium, with Harry Kane missing the second penalty spot which would have given England the chance to equalize late in the match.
The England boss still has another two years left on his current contract having already managed the Three Lions for six years.
Upon his arrival in 2016, Southgate has led England in three major tournaments, reaching the semi-finals at Russia’s 2018 World Cup before meeting defeat via a penalty shootout in the Euro 2020 final.
Speaking in the wee hours of Sunday, December 11 after the heartache of France’s 2-1 elimination, Gareth Southgate does not seems ready to join other managers who resigned after falling out of Qatar’s World Cup tournament.
Southgate said: “Whenever I’ve finished these tournaments I’ve needed time to make correct decisions because emotionally you go through so many different feelings and the energy that it takes through these tournaments is enormous so I want to make the right decision, whenever that is, for the team, for England, for the FA.”
“And I’ve got to be sure that whatever decision I make is the right one and I think it’s right to take a bit of time to do that because I know in the past how my feelings have fluctuated in the immediate aftermath of tournaments.”
The England boss whose contract runs until December 2024 applauded his team’s performance in the Qatar tournament, despite suffering a disappointing loss to France.
Southgate felt disappointed over the World Cup elimination but reveals he wouldn’t let his emotions pull him down and rather focus his attention on the Euro 2024.
“To go again is a lot of energy and you’ve got to make sure that you’re ready for that”, he noted.
“There are (Euro 2024) qualifiers in March and together there’s too much in my head to think much of any of that.”
“I wanted to focus totally on this tournament and to approach it in the way that we have and I think we have given a really good account of ourselves to the rest of the world, but in the end, only one team wins.”
Meanwhile, former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, has pointed accusing fingers at referee Wilton Sampaio as England crashed out of the World Cup to France.
England’s captain Harry Kane fired a late penalty over the bar as England’s World Cup dreams were thwarted following a 2-1 defeat in the quarter-finals.
Gary Neville believes referee Wilton Sampaio made some controversial decisions despite awarding England two penalties.
Sampaio waved play when England’s Bukayo Saka was caught by Dayot Upamecano in the build-up to Aurélien Tchouaméni’s opening goal for France.
Upamecano, thereafter, appeared to foul England’s captain Harry Kane as he drove into the box, but VAR failed to intervene.
Neville called referee Wilton Sampaio “a joke” and “rank bad”.
“He had an absolute nightmare. A joke of a referee” Neville said of the referee.
He continued: “I’m not saying it was all down to England’s defeat – people will say it is excuses – but he’s just a bad referee, rank bad.”
However, England finally got a penalty when Saka was fouled by Tchouaméni before VAR had to step in to award their second penalty for a foul on Mason Mount, even though Kane blazed the decisive penalty over.
England’s World Cup dream slayer France will rise against the African pride Morocco in the World Cup semi-finals on the 14th of December, with kickoff scheduled for 8 pm.
