England fans claim ‘football’s corrupt to the core’ after ‘disgraceful’ decision

COLE PALMER came off the bench to be England’s star man – but his heroics were unable to stop heartbreak against Spain, writes Tom Barclay.

Mikel Oyarzabal struck a late dagger through the hearts of the Three Lions to seal a 2-1 Spanish victory.

And that ensured that 58 years of hurt will go on.

Here’s how SunSport’s Tom Barclay rated each England player in the crushing defeat:

Jordan Pickford: 8

Carefully controlled a blast of a backpass from John Stones on his line in the first half. Could do little to stop Williams’ opener but made two terrific stops to deny Yamal, only for Oyarzabal to poke home at the death.

Kyle Walker: 6

Had his hands full with Williams but managed the Spanish livewire pretty well but could not get near his powerful opener. 

John Stones: 8

A colossus again as he played every single minute of this Euros, despite lack of Manchester City game-time. Superb block on early Williams shot, was often in the right place at the right time and at one point dribbled all the way up the pitch.

Marc Guehi: 6

Solid alongside Stones and overall it has been a brilliant first tournament for the Crystal Palace star. But Oyarzabal nicked in front of him for the winner.

Bukayo Saka: 7

Most consistent attacker for England across the tournament and had a good battle with pantomime villain Marc Cucurella here. It was his cross that Bellingham laid off for Palmer to work his magic.

Declan Rice: 7

Went past his boss Gareth Southgate’s cap haul by winning his 58th here and he is still only 25. Was in the thick of it in the midfield battle throughout. 

Kobbie Mainoo: 5

Just 19 and starting a major final for England in the middle of midfield. Fewer bursts forward though than in recent games as his side struggled for possession and was subbed for Palmer as Southgate searched for a leveller. 

Luke Shaw: 7

Looked so sharp for a player making his first start since Luton away on February 10, winning his battle against Lamine Yamal in the first half. But Yamal got the better of him after the break to tee up Williams’ opener.

Phil Foden: 6

Out of possession it was his job to man-mark Manchester City colleague Rodri, until the Spanish maestro went off injured at half-time. Had a half-chance just before the break but could not beat Unai Simon.

Jude Bellingham: 7

Shunted wide left when England did not have the ball – which was a lot of the time. Riskily flew into a few tackles, but it was his clever lay-off that teed up Palmer.

Harry Kane: 4

His lack of involvement was summed up by England fans calling for Ollie Watkins in the 57th minute. They got their wish on the hour.

SUBS: 

Ollie Watkins: 6

Semi-final hero was introduced far earlier here to get some legs in behind, though he did not have too much impact this time.

Cole Palmer: 9

What an impact after emerging with just twenty minutes to go. Yet another of Southgate’s subs paid off handsomely as Palmer curled a peach of an equaliser with 17 minutes remaining, sending most of the Olympiastadion potty.

Ivan Toney: 6

Thrown on right at the end but could not make an impact.

Gareth Southgate: 7

The game was a chess match for the first half and Southgate was never going to go early with his bold moves.

His subs were excellent to be fair, with Palmer brilliantly getting his team back into it.

Critics will say England did not play attacking enough but Spain are one hell of a side – and Southgate’s men pushed them all the way.

IT will take a while for me and every England fan to get over this, writes Jack Wilshere.

To come so close to winning that trophy, only to be beaten in a second Euros final in a row, is a huge disappointment.

Especially when it really felt like this was our time.

It seemed that everything was coming together for us to end the long wait for a major title.

But Spain deserved it. They were the better team in the final and the best team of the tournament.

We will all — supporters, players, coaches, the FA — have to move on and go again.

Because English football is still in a good position.

Gareth Southgate has taken us to two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. We have never produced a run like that before.

The challenge now is to maintain this level of competitiveness and make England even better.

Southgate and his staff have done a fantastic job in changing the whole environment and narrative around the national team.

Whether Gareth carries on or not, the wider culture he has put in place must be preserved.

This tournament was the biggest test of that culture the team had to go through.

They overcame the problems and went all the way, only to fall at the final hurdle.

But there is every reason to believe we can challenge at the World Cup in 2026 and beyond.

We’ve got a really good group of players, many of them young, who can go on playing and performing for England for years.

Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer — to name just five — have plenty more tournaments in them.

This tournament will also be an inspiration for the next generations of players. Unfortunately there isn’t the trophy lift to take that to a completely different level.

But England have delivered moments in Germany that will be replayed forever.

The Bellingham overhead kick and Ollie Watkins’ semi-final winner will be recreated in playgrounds and cages up and down the country.

What I would like to see now is England continuing to develop, to become a team that can consistently dominate opponents and can give a real identity to English football.

We now have players who are comfortable on the ball and technically very good.

The biggest disappointment of the tournament was that we didn’t see that as often as we would have liked. That leaves us with a ‘what if?’ feeling.

England must not lose that old-school mentality of finding a way to win even when you’re not playing well — that never-say-die spirit which got us through this Euros more than once.

But the next step is to allow other qualities to shine through, to give the players that our system is creating the platform to show  everything they can do.

The job for me and for other coaches is to keep producing players that are comfortable on the ball and understand how to perform under pressure at a high level.

English football is in a good place but we need to keep going. Then we will finally get over the line.

Real all of SunSport columnist Jack Wilshere’s Euro 2024 columns…