EURO 2024: More heartbreak for England

For England, it was more heartbreak as they lost their second consecutive EURO final after falling 2-1 against Spain.

After pulling something out from nothing throughout the tournament, England were unable to conjure up any more magic following Cole Palmer's equalizer late in the second half.

"I think Spain were the best team in the tournament," Gareth Southgate said after the loss. "We didn't quite keep the ball well enough, but we were right in it until the last ten minutes. I'm devastated for everybody, really. The players have been absolutely incredible; I'm so proud of what they've done. We've just fallen a little bit short."

While England did have some spells in the second half, after Palmer brought the game level, England did what many have criticized them for and that is to sit back and invite pressure from the opposition.

"We had a little bit of momentum in the game at that point," Southgate said in regards to Palmer's goal. "We also had a big chance to equalize at the end. Probably across 90 minutes, I'm not sure we did quite enough."

Not many are going to disagree with that claim as a number of players put in disappointing performances.

Southgate even took Harry Kane off early and replaced him with Ollie Watkins. Kane may well be carrying an injury but was a shadow of himself all tournament long. The same can be said for Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham did lay off the pass that led to Palmer's equalizer and scored the amazing bicycle kick to rescue England in the round of 16. But other than that, he was largely invisible. Perhaps he was aware of that, which is why he showed his frustrations following the final whistle.

As a collective, England simply weren't good enough. Understandably, Southgate has come under criticism but, unless he decides to leave, will likely stay on as manager.

This defeat may hurt a little less than the one in the last EURO given on that occasion, they were playing in England at Wembley and had the lead against Italy.

Despite all that, Southgate was proud of players and proclaimed a bright future ahead despite the disappointment.

"They've been to two finals and a semifinal in the last eight years," Southgate said. "There are a lot of young players who are going to be around for another six to eight years, some of them. Although this is painful for them at the moment, there's no reason they can't pick themselves up."

Under Southgate, England have made deep runs in recent competitions but they've come up just short. There is an exciting generation of players but as we've seen with other national teams, you can have a "golden generation" and still not win anything. Whether that will be the case for England remains to be seen.