Qatar World Cup 2022: Here's how English players reacted following their ouster to France
Qatar World Cup 2022: England failed to get past the line, getting knocked out by France in the quarterfinal on Saturday. Meanwhile, here is how the English players reacted to the heartbreaking defeat.
FollowFormer champion England's wait for its second FIFA World Cup title continues after suffering a heartbreaking 1-2 failure to two-time defending champion France in the quarterfinal of Qatar 2022 on Saturday, played at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. While striker Harry Kane scored from the spot to keep the Three Lions' hopes alive, he missed the other spot-kick, resulting in his side's ouster from the event. In the meantime, we look at how the Englishmen reacted to this failure while speaking to ITV.
Jordan Henderson: "We know how many penalties Harry has scored for us, how many goals he has contributed to getting us here. He will be more vital for this in the future. He is a world-class striker and our captain. He will bounce back. We felt good. The performances were excellent, and the focus and hunger were perfect. But you have to give credit to France, a good team. I still feel it was there for us to win tonight."
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Harry Maguire: "The referee's decision-making tonight was poor. It would be nice to see if he comes out to say if he's had a good game. We were the better team in the game. Nobody who watched as a neutral would say we dominated the game for a long period. Big decisions went against us - many decisions, I should say."
Kane (to BBC Sport): "It's tough to take for me personally and for the team. I couldn't be prouder of the boys. We had better spells and chances, but football comes down to small details. As the captain and the one who missed the penalty, I take responsibility for that. I can't fault my preparation or the details before the game."
"I felt confident taking it. I didn't execute it the way I wanted to. It will be something I have to live with and take on the chin. The team is in a perfect place, and there will be highs in the future. Standing here now, we are gutted it has ended as we believed we could go all the way. We can be proud of what we've done," added Kane.
Declan Rice: "I hope he [Gareth Southgate] stays. There's a lot of talk around that. He's been brilliant for us, and there's been a lot of criticism that's not deserved. He's taken us so, so far, further than what people would expect. Tonight, he got everything spot on. It's not on him."
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"The tactics were spot on. We played the right way, we were aggressive, we stopped [Kylian] Mbappe – he was quiet – and it was two goals against the run of play. That isn't down to the manager. It's down to the players on the pitch. I hope he stays," added Rice.
