England manager Southgate leaves his future open for now after Euro loss

BERLIN (AP) — Gareth Southgate is leaving his future as England manager open for now after his team's 2-1 loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

Southgate's contract expires in December and it's unclear whether he might sign an extension that would cover upcoming tournaments such as the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“I don’t think now is a good time to make a decision like that. I’m going to talk to the right people," Southgate told British broadcaster ITV after the final. “It’s just not for now.”

Southgate's eight years in charge have seen him become the first manager of the England men's team to reach two finals and the first to reach a final outside of England. The team’s only trophy remains the 1966 World Cup.

At the final whistle against Spain, Southgate stood alone with his hands on his hips before going to congratulate Spain's coaches. He then walked through a crowd of joyful Spanish players and crisscrossed the field to commiserate with his players individually.

During his time in the high-pressure job, Southgate has had an uneasy relationship with fans and the media. Southgate was once idolized by England supporters who sang of him being “the one” amid his team's runs to the 2018 World Cup semifinals and the Euro 2020 final, after England hadn't reached a semifinal since the 1990s.

But frustration grew among fans over what they saw as his cautious, defense-first tactics, and matters reached a head at Euro 2024. Some fans threw plastic cups in Southgate's directions after a drab group stage draw with Slovenia.

“We all want to be loved, right?" he said after the semifinal win over the Netherlands on Wednesday, adding that it was “hard” to face constant criticism.

Asked after the final if twice having come so close to a trophy — a loss on penalties to Italy at Euro 2020 and now an 86th-minute goal in the loss to Spain — made him want to stay to get the team over the line at a future tournament, Southgate declined to go into further detail on his future.

“I totally understand the question and understand you need to ask it, but I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes, and I’m obviously not going discuss that publicly first,” he said.

“Without doubt England has got some fabulous young players and even the young ones now have got a lot of experience of tournaments. Many of this squad are going to be around in two, four, six years, eight years time. We have now been consistently back in the matches that matter. It’s the last step that we haven’t been able to do.”

Southgate said one factor in England's loss was fatigue from pre-tournament injuries and extra time in two of the previous three games. England also had one less day than Spain to recover after the semifinals.

“At the end the legs started to go and you start to make mistakes," he said. "The players have pushed it until the 85th minute of the final game. They’ve been incredible, really”

England has less than two months until its next game on Sept. 7 against Ireland in the Nations League.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024