Harry Kane admits to 'tough tournament' after England suffer defeat in Euro 2024 final to Spain - 'Tired mentality'
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Updated 14/07/2024 at 22:53 GMT
Harry Kane was subbed off in England's 2-1 defeat against Spain in the final of Euro 2024, and he believes that tired legs and a tired mentality were the difference as The Three Lions suffered heartbreak in Berlin. Spain got on the scoresheet through goals from Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal, while Chelsea star Cole Palmer found the back of the net for England.
Harry Kane
Image credit: Getty Images
Harry Kane said England suffered from a "tired mentality" as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Spain in the final of Euro 2024.
The game came alive in the second half, with Cole Palmer equalising for The Three Lions after Nico Williams gave Spain the lead.
England fell back into their shell following Palmer's goal and Mikel Oyarzabal capitalised in the 86th minute, breaking English hearts with a cool finish from Marc Cucurella's superb cross.
Kane believes England suffered from tired legs and a tired mentality in the closing stages of the clash.
"It is the last stage of the tournament, there are a lot of tired legs there and a lot of tired mentality," Kane told the BBC. "We struggled, and then obviously we got caught with the ball in behind, it comes down to big moments."
England had a late chance, but Dani Olmo headed an effort off the line as Spain saw the game out to win the Euros for a fourth time.
Kane continued: "We had a big moment at the end there, where they cleared one off the line.
"It could have been different, but for now it is just really disappointing.
"It has been a tough tournament, we have had to show a lot of resilience, me personally and the whole team as well.
"It has been a difficult ride, we have done extremely well to get here.
"Ultimately we are going to be judged on this game, we wanted to do it so badly for ourselves but also for the fans, everyone who has believed in us the whole way.
"Right now it is just a huge disappointment."
It was Kane's second defeat in a major final in an England shirt following his side's penalty shoot-out loss against Italy at Euro 2020.
The forward believes there is no worse feeling in football than falling at the final hurdle of a major tournament.
"Losing in a final is as tough as it gets, we did really well to get back into the game and get it to 1-1," he said.
"We couldn't quite use that momentum to push on, we couldn't quite keep the ball and then we got punished for it towards the end of the game.
"I mean, yeah, it is as painful as it could be in a football match.
"I don't know, we didn't quite keep the same intensity and pressure I guess, we did not keep the ball well enough."
Gareth Southgate's future as England manager is in doubt following the defeat.
Southgate said he would take time to reflect on his future, but Kane insisted England's players would love Southgate to stay on.
"We made it clear, we love the manager, but it is his decision [to remain on as England manager or not] and now is not the time to talk about that," he added.
"That is down to him, he will go away and think about it, right now we are all just hurting."
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