England’s superb run at this summers World Cup ended in disappointment today as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Belgium in the third-placed playoff in Saint Petersburg.
Speaking after the game, Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate gave an honest interview in which he freely admitted that his young side is nowhere near the level of a Belgium team that has so many top players at their peak.
“Belgium are a better side than us. We had to play flat out. We had a day less to repair and recover. It was a game too far for us,’’ he told ITV.
“Belgium are a top team and they will be thinking they should have gone further than they did. We caused them problems and pinned them back but they have players of the highest quality.
“Two years on, you look at the number of caps and age of squad for Belgium. This is their peak but we are nowhere near that and we knew that the whole way through.”