International break recap: Wales suffer penalty-shootout heartbreak and England again questioning Southgate
An update looking at the recent international break that proved heartbreaking for Wales who fell at the very final hurdle and leaves England in a precarious position ahead of the summer, with a bright squad that will expect to go far but could all sound too familiar.
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00:00 The final ticket to Euro 2024 went to Poland after a tense playoff final with Wales,
00:08 which was decided by the tightest of penalty shootouts in Cardiff.
00:12 A goal of some 120 minutes led to nine spot kicks scored in a row,
00:17 until Dan James' effort was saved by Wojciech Czesny to deny the Dragons a third consecutive trip to the European Championship.
00:25 So what were the expectations like before the playoff tie of this group of players?
00:31 Is it a comp... you know, when it first came around, was it a tournament that Wales will have their eyes on
00:36 and thought that fans alike are really thinking that, yeah, we should be getting there,
00:41 we should be making a good show of ourselves at one of these major tournaments again?
00:47 We were looking at these major tournaments like we should be qualifying for.
00:50 We've got the players to be qualifying. Obviously Gareth Bale dragged us to some of these competitions in the past,
00:56 and we don't have Bale now, but I think people expected us to step up.
01:01 Manager Rob Page insisted he will take Wales forward after their Euro 2024 dream was ended by a penalty shootout heartbreak.
01:10 With young players flooding the side, boasting experience in the top two divisions of English football,
01:15 are there positives to take moving forward?
01:19 Like Danny James, I just feel like he should be in his early 20s, but he's not, he's 26.
01:24 So, yeah, we're on the... you've got to say that there's a lot of positive signs, like players are filling those gaps.
01:33 But we're relying on players like Aaron Ramsey, who's injured every week, who's into his 30s now,
01:40 who's not a player he was, but he's still a phenomenal player.
01:43 So, you know, it's not easy, but there's signs of life in the future moving forward for Welsh football.
01:52 England had enjoyed an almost perfect record at Wembley under Gareth Southgate until the recent international break.
02:00 England have two games left before the Euros, where Southgate's talented squad is widely expected to challenge.
02:07 So where does this leave the side and manager Southgate ahead of the tournament?
02:12 I think most fans would probably want him to stay.
02:14 I think obviously it's... I think there will be ones who obviously get annoyed that ultimately they might have made,
02:19 you know, a semi-final, sorry, a quarter-final in the World Cup and obviously the Euros final,
02:23 and a semi-final in the World Cup that preceded it, but sort of think, well, yeah,
02:27 that's all very well and good making the latter stages of competitions, but ultimately, you're not winning anything.
02:32 And I think there will be a lot of people that think that. And I kind of think that myself.
02:35 But the thing I would say is they're evidently close to getting somewhere.
02:38 I think that's what I'd like to see happen, really, have him stay at least for the Euros.
02:42 I'm not sure about after that in terms of another World Cup. That would be a third World Cup, wouldn't it?
02:46 So and that's when it then becomes difficult in terms of, well, if he is going to stay, then, you know,
02:50 does he sign a contract after the World Cup in 2026 as well?
02:54 So he might sort of think, well, do I really want to step away when we're evidently quite close?
02:59 You know?