Spain win European Championships for a record fourth time whilst Gareth Southgate’s England bow out in final with a whimper
A summary of the dominance of Spain and again, what could have been for Gareth Southgate’s England group with many questions gone unanswered this tournament and fans of the nation begging the answers are found before the 2026 World Cup.
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00:00Michael, on the back of the Euro 2024 campaign, obviously Spain are emerging winners. Let's
00:07look at that final and obviously, you know, let's start with Spain. Let's be honest, they
00:11were the best team by and large throughout the entire tournament. I mean, it's just a
00:16different beast, it seems, when they approach these major tournaments. They've had sort
00:20of that period of not winning one. They obviously won three in a row, 2008, 2010 and 2012, quite
00:26remarkably, and now they've got the record amount of European championships. I mean,
00:30this is an unbelievable team and another, what looks like a start of a fantastic era
00:36for the country. Yeah, I think it's an interesting one because they, it's a squad that wasn't
00:43really particularly fancied, was it, before the tournament. I remember there was four
00:45kind of strong favourites in the build-up to it and Spain weren't among that number.
00:51I think that, I would still say this now, at the back end of the tournament, that Spain
00:57probably do lack the depth of quality that perhaps the likes of England, Germany, Portugal
01:02have, but they came together as a really well-run, a really efficient team that actually managed
01:08to maximise the talents that they have. And they do have a very, very talented squad,
01:14it should be said, in the second half. But I think it's an interesting one. I think that,
01:17I mean, you mentioned Spain there, they've won four championships, worthy winners with
01:22some fantastic players and I think that they will now go into the World Cup as one of the
01:27favourites in two years' time, you would say.
01:29You know, to get to a final's an achievement, but where do they sort of go from now? Because
01:33it's without a doubt that Gareth Southgate would have probably been offered a new contract
01:37if they were to go and win that final. How do they sort of address it? What's the future
01:43looking like? Will Harry Kane be making this next World Cup? It's a lot of questions to
01:48be asked. What do you sort of think on some of those?
01:51Yeah, I mean, with Gareth Southgate, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because you
01:57probably would say the time's up now for him. He's had four major tournaments, he's England's
02:03G7 manager by sort of Ramsey, but he hasn't got England's over the line when push comes
02:10to shove and he's had talented, talented players. But on the flip side, who is out there or
02:19who do you go and get to be the manager? You know, some people are saying Eddie Howell.
02:23If I'm Eddie Howell, I'd be looking and thinking, why doesn't he leave Newcastle on Harry Kane?
02:29It's just, that's an incredible season for Bayern Munich. If he weren't captain, Gareth
02:35Southgate might have made the decision he's England's record goalscorer, but maybe not
02:39being as reliant on him might be the way forward. He'd still be scoring goals for Bayern Munich,
02:45you would think, in two years' time. So I think it's a little bit folly to be saying
02:51he should be retiring from international football. But yeah, decisions to make certainly for
02:57the FA, Gareth Southgate.