In a heart-wrenching defeat at the EURO 2024 final, England’s hopes were dashed as Spain clinched a 2-1 victory at the Olympiastadion Berlin. Harry Kane, England’s captain, expressed disappointment over his team’s inability to maintain their intensity and pressure against Spain.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Kane reflected on the match, highlighting England’s struggle to cope with Spain’s gameplay: “We just didn’t quite keep the same intensity and pressure (after scoring) or keep the ball well enough. It is the last stage of the tournament, and there are a lot of tired legs and a tired mentality there. We just struggled and then got caught with the ball in behind.”
Kane acknowledged the pivotal moments that could have changed the outcome: “It is down to big moments — we had a big moment at the end where they cleared one off the line, it could have been different, but for now it is really disappointing.”
Expressing regret for coach Gareth Southgate, Kane emphasized the disappointment of missing out on winning the prestigious trophy: “It’s an opportunity missed. It’s not easy to get to these finals. It takes unbelievable resilience and character to get to where we are but ultimately you take the opportunity when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful, it’s going to hurt for a long, long time. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t win it for Gareth. We wanted so badly to win it for him.”
England, having lost in the final for the second consecutive time, struggled to maintain possession against Spain’s dominant gameplay. With only a 34% share of the ball compared to Spain’s 66%, England faced an uphill battle. Spain capitalized on their possession advantage, registering 16 shots with six on target, while England managed nine shots, four of which were on target.
The match saw Spain taking the lead early in the second half through Nico Williams, and although England managed to equalize in the 73rd minute with a goal from Cole Palmer, Spain secured their victory with Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal in the 86th minute, clinching their fourth Euro title.
