Harry Kane Reflects on England’s EURO 2024 Final Loss to Spain
England’s captain Harry Kane expressed disappointment after their 2-1 defeat to Spain in the EURO 2024 final held at Olympiastadion Berlin. Spain’s Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal scored the goals, while Cole Palmer was the lone scorer for England.
England’s Struggles
Speaking to BBC Sport, Kane mentioned that England failed to keep the same intensity and pressure after scoring. He said, ‘We just didn’t quite keep the same intensity and pressure 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.’
Missed Opportunity
Kane added that it was disappointing not to win the prestigious trophy for head coach Gareth Southgate. ‘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,’ he said.
Match Statistics
England became the first team to lose the final two consecutive times. They struggled to keep possession, holding only 34% of the ball compared to Spain’s 66%. Spain had 16 shots with six on target, while England had nine shots with four on target. In the first half, both teams defended well, but Spain took the lead early in the second half. England equalized in the 73rd minute, but Oyarzabal’s 86th-minute goal sealed Spain’s fourth Euro title.
