Kane is still set to land the Golden Boot in Russia
Sunday 15 July 2018 13:15, UK
Gareth Southgate defended captain Harry Kane's performance after England's World Cup campaign came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to Belgium in the third-place play-off in Saint Petersburg.
Kane is set to finish the tournament in Russia with the Golden Boot after scoring six goals, which came in his first three World Cup games.
However, he has failed to score in England's last three matches, failing to register a single shot on target in those games, but Southgate leapt to his captain's defence after the defeat to Belgium.
"Today is the seventh game in a short period of time, and we've had incredible physical demands and emotional demands on the least experienced team in the tournament," Southgate said when put to him that Kane looked exhausted.
"It would be wrong to judge any player on today's game, if their energy levels were short. I think he has captained the team exceptionally well, he has led the culture we are trying to create.
"And although we can talk about having a more comfortable route to the semi-final - and for sure we did - but we've had those routes in the past and not got to the point we have.
"I'm immensely proud of the players. All of them. And they should be proud of themselves because they've achieved an equal high in terms of tournament performance that any English team that's had to come abroad for a tournament has achieved."
Still reeling from Wednesday's heart-breaking semi-final defeat to Croatia, England stuttered against Belgium as the chance to become the best team to leave English shores passed them by.
Instead it was Roberto Martinez's side that made history by collecting the bronze medal, with England wasting the chance to cancel out Thomas Meunier's early opener before Eden Hazard wrapped up a 2-0 win.
Despite the defeat, Southgate singled out defender John Stones and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for praise.
"I thought Stones was absolutely outstanding and Pickford has had a wonderful tournament," he added.
"Today was always going to be a really difficult game.
"We played one of the best teams in the world with individual talent which is incredible, and we had only two days to get ready for it."
Before the game, Southgate revealed he is already planning for the 2020 European Championships and afterwards he said England had to build on their performance at the World Cup, continuing their work in developing as a group.
"We are not in club football where we have a chequebook and you can go and buy new players," he said.
"We have to coach and develop and improve as a group, and that then requires the players to have a willingness to improve, and they've shown that in abundance over the last seven weeks."
