Belgium are better than England and at their peak, concedes Southgate

Gareth Southgate hailed England’s players for their display, despite losing to a Belgium side he believes are better than the Three Lions.

Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard scored goals at each end of the game to consign England to a second successive defeat and secure the third-place finish, their best ever effort at a World Cup.

Southgate was clearly disappointed that England could not end their surprising campaign on a high note, but he paid tribute to his squad for the efforts across the tournament – and for exceeding expectations.

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“I think they’re a better side than us,” Southgate told ITV. “We had to play flat out.

“The reality is we had a day less to recover. Great credit to them (Belgium) – they’ll probably think they should have got further.

He added: “My players have given everything, right to the final whistle. I think we were competitive in every game, we’ve overcome a lot of landmarks. Finishing in the top four is probably above where we are.

“The players deserve every credit. Belgium are at their peak, we’re nowhere near our peak now. I think we’ve tried to maximise the players we’ve had. It’s not club football, we can’t go and buy players.

“The players that were here have acquitted themselves magnificently. I couldn’t have asked more of them.”

Harry Kane, meanwhile, felt England deserved much more after their second-half display, which saw Eric Dier denied an equaliser by a stunning Toby Alderweireld clearance.

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“I thought the second half we played really well, we had them on the ropes for the first half hour of that,” Kane said.

“Obviously the second goal killed us, the players couldn’t give any more. We wanted to finish on a high, it shows we can still learn and still get better.

“We’ve closed it (the gap to the top teams) for sure, but this shows there’s still room for improvement we’re not the finished article.

“We’ve made huge strides. We don’t want to wait another twenty odd years, this is the level we’ve got to stay at now.”

Kane looks likely to win the golden boot too, unless Kylian Mbappe or Antoine Griezmann net hat-trick in the final tomorrow.

“If I do win the Golden Boot, it will be something I’m very proud of,” Kane said.