Gareth Southgate takes full responsibility for England’s penalty failure as Italy secured glory at Euro 2020 at Wembley.
With a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes – Leonardo Bonucci canceled Luke Shaw’s opener in the second minute – the penalty was a familiar result for the English side.
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bucayo Saka missed a penalty kick, with Jordan Pickford saving two Italian penalties.
«We have prepared as much as we can for that and it is my responsibility, I have chosen the players to take the kicks,» the England coach told ITV.
«No one is alone in this situation. We decided to make changes right at the end of the match and win and lose together as a team.»
If he comes home tonight, he must be thinking, ‘I mishandled the five’.
Damien Duff, Didi Hamann, and Liam Brady discuss how Southgate and #ENG They came close to the penalty shootout as they lost #ITA#RTESoccer #ITAENG @RTE2 Tweet embed pic.twitter.com/UzSn2eMcog
– RTÉ Soccer (RTEsoccer) July 11, 2021
On choosing Saka to take the fifth penalty and also make very late substitutions to get more influencers on Southgate added to ITV: «It’s my decision to give him that penalty, so it’s entirely my responsibility: it’s not him Marcus or Jadon.
«We’ve worked on that in training and that’s the order we’ve come in. My call as coach.
«It’s always the risk you take, but they were by far the best, and to beat all these attacking players you have to do it late.
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«It was a gamble but if we gambled earlier we might have lost the match in overtime in any way.»
Captain Harry Kane was proud of the team’s efforts.
He told the BBC: «The boys can’t do more. It’s clear that penalties are the worst thing in the world when you lose. It wasn’t our night but it was a great tournament and we should be proud of it. Loud.
«Of course it will hurt for some time but we are on the right track and hopefully we can progress from next year.»
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